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ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF THE DAWES COMMISSION—DAWES, 
McKENNON, AND KIDD (LEFT TO RIGHT) 


OKLAHOMA 


A HISTORY OF 


The State and Its People 


By 
JOSEPH B. THOBURN 


and 


MURIEL H. WRIGHT 


VOLUME II 


Lewis HIsToRICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 
New York 
1929 


CHAPTER XXXVII 


PIONEER RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION 


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CHAPTER XXXVII. 
PIONEER RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION 


As mentioned in previous chapters, the building of a railway westward 
across the Indian Territory was first suggested, as early as 1849, and the sur- 
vey of a route for one of the proposed Pacific railways was made, under 
Government auspices, westward from Fort Smith, across the Territory, to 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1854;1 also that, prior to the outbreak of 
the Civil War, two railway companies were organized, each of which proposed 
to construct lines into or through the Indian Territory. These were (1) the 
Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad Company, which projected a generally 
westward course, substantially on “the 35th Parallel” of which there had been 
much talk from the beginning of Pacific railway agitation, and (2) the South- 
ern Pacific, which was to have its eastern terminus at St. Louis and the pro- 
jected line of which, taking a generally southwestward course, was to traverse 
the Indian Territory. Moreover, all of the treaties made with the Five Civil- 
ized Tribes, in 1866, contained stipulations to the effect that certain railway 
lines might be built across the lands of the several Indian nations, 

During the course of the Civil War, while most of the people of the North 
and the West were loyally and wholeheartedly intent upon the struggle for 
the preservation of the Federal Union, certain professional railway promoters 
were busily engaged in securing (from Congress and under the guise of mili- 
tary necessity) bounties and subsidies in the way of extensive land donations 
from the public domain for the purpose of aiding in the construction of rail- 
ways through regions which were as yet but sparsely settled, if at all. The 
national domain of that period was vast, almost beyond computation, and public 
lands were so cheap as to appear to be of merely nominal value. Under such 
circumstances, it was comparatively easy to secure the passage of an act by 
Congress, granting to certain corporations great subsidies in the form of land 
donations in consideration of the building of railroads through regions which 
were as yet to be settled. 

A railway company to be known as the Union Pacific Railway Company, 
Southern Branch, was incorporated under the laws of Kansas, September 20, 
1865. It proposed the construction of a railway line from Junction City, near 
the Fort Riley military reservation, down the valley of the Neosho River to 
the southern boundary of Kansas and thence across the Indian Territory to 
the town of Preston (near Denison), Texas. Ten months later, in accordance 
with an act of Congress approved July 26, 1866, a land-grant subsidy of each 
alternate section in a strip of land five miles wide on each side of the right-of- 
way of the proposed railway line was made to the company in Kansas and 
further providing that a similar land grant should be made to the company 
along its proposed line in the Indian Territory in event that such lands should 


1. Pacific Railway Survey Reports, Vol. III (33d Congress, 2d Session, Senate Executive 
Document, No. 78). 


476 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


ever become a part of the public domain of the United States.2 Section 8 
of the act of July 26, 1866, reads as follows: 


That the said Union Pacific Railroad Company, Southern Branch, its successors and 
assigns, is hereby authorized and empowered to extend and construct its railroad from the 


southern boundary of Kansas, south through the Indian Territory, with the consent of the 
Indians and not otherwise, along the valleys of the Grand and Arkansas rivers to Fort Smith 
in the State of Arkansas. 


The fact that this act, which was passed and approved but little more 
than a year after the end of the Civil War, provided that the proposed rail- 
way line should begin at a point adjacent to the Fort Riley military reser- 
vation, that its stipulations required that it should pass through that of Fort 
Gibson and terminate at Fort Smith (all three of which were garrisoned sta- 
tions at the time) and that it would be bound to transport free of charge any 
troops or munitions of war, would seem to indicate that an apparent zeal for 
military preparedness could be made to cloak shrewd business maneuvers 
on the part of lobbyists, even at that early period. The possibility of build- 
ing down the valley of the Arkansas River, from Fort Gibson to Fort Smith 
may not have been desired or intended by the promoters who succeeded in 
securing the passage of the bill. Its real purpose was to throw a veil of 
patriotism over the selfish desire for a subsidy in the form of a land-grant. 

Two other railway lines had been projected by the corporations formed 
under the laws of the State of Kansas. Each of these was intended to be 
constructed across the Indian Territory to Red River. One, to be known 
as the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad, was to be built from Kansas City, 
southward through the counties of the eastern border of Kansas (locally 
known as “the Border Tier Road”), with a view to its extension southward 
from the Kansas boundary to a junction at the Red River with a railroad 
then being constructed to that point from Galveston. The other railroad 
corporation which had been organized and chartered in Kansas was the 
Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad Company. As the new 
treaties which had just been negotiated with the Indians of the Five Civilized 
Tribes did not contain provision for the building of more than one railroad 
line from north to south across the Indian Territory, it was obvious that not 
all three of these projected lines could be constructed as planned. Moreover, 
an arbitrary grant of an exclusive privilege to any one of the three would 


age a4 Rae Congress, 1st Session, Chap. 270 (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XIV, pp. 

3. Under the terms of the (Cherokee) treaty of 1866, Secretary (of the Interior) Harlan 
made a contract with a Connecticut corporation, the American Emigrant Company, by 
which the whole of the (Cherokee) neutral lands (800,000 acres in Southeastern Kansas) 
was to be disposed of for a very nominal sum. His successor, O. H. Browning, declared the 
contract void, because the purchase money had not been paid down, and then, with strange 
inconsistency, negotiated one with James F. Joy, president of the Kansas City, Fort Scott 
& Gulf Railway (i. e., the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railway Company), that was open to 
the same objection. A supplement to the Cherokee treaty above mentioned tried to prevent 
litigation and to harmonize conflicting interests by arranging that the American Emigrant 
Company should transfer its contract to Joy, and that the latter should assume all the 
obligations of the former. Eugene F. Ware stated that this treaty was ratified while only 
three Senators were present, and that it was a gross infringement upon the preémption 
rights of the settlers inasmuch as it related back to the Harlan sale and cut off the inter- 
mediate occupants of the land.—Extinction of Reservation Titles, by Annie Heloise Abel 
“Kansas Historical Society Collections,” Vol. VIII, pp. 106-07. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 477 


be to invite the charge of favoritism on the part of the Government. There- 
fore, in order to forestall any such unpleasant complications, section 11 of 
_ the act of July 26, 1866, provided that the privilege of constructing a railway 
line south from the Kansas boundary should be conferred upon the company 
which should first complete its line to the boundary at the designated point, 
which should be its intersection of the valley of the Neosho.t The clause in 
question, which was a part of the act by which a land-grant subsidy was con- 
ae upon the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad Company, reads as fol- 
Ows: 


And provided, further, that should the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad Com- 
pany, or the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Southern Branch, construct and complete its 
road to that point on the southern boundary of the state of Kansas where the line of the said 
Kansas & Neosho Valley shall cross the same, before the said Kansas & Neosho Vailey Rail- 
road shall have constructed and completed its said road to the said point, then and in that event 
the company so first reaching in completion the said point on the southern boundary of the 
state of Kansas shall be authorized, upon obtaining the written approval of the President of 
the United States, to construct and operate its line of railroad from said point to a point at or 
near Preston, in the state of Texas, with grants of land according to the provisions of this 
act, but upon the further special condition, nevertheless, that said railroad company shall have 
commenced in good faith the construction thereof before the said Kansas & Neosho Valley 
Railroad Company shall have completed its said railroad to said point; and provided further, so 
having commenced said work in good faith, shall continue to prosecute the same with sufficient 
energy to insure the completion of the same within a reasonable length of time, subject to the 
approval of the President of the United States. 


None of the proposed railway lines were built immediately and it was 
not until nearly four years after the passage and approval of the act so quoted 
that any of the projected railway tracks were laid to points near the northern 
boundary of the Indian Territory. The rivalry became very spirited, how- 
ever, after the race was finally started and the goal was in sight. One of 
the contestant companies became so keenly interested in winning the coveted 
privilege that it was reported to have laid its ties and rails over several 
stretches of level prairie land without stopping to construct a roadbed. The 
Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad Company changed its line from the route 
upon which it had been originally planned to build it, so that, instead of cross- 
ing the boundary in the valley of the Neosho River, as at first proposed, it 
would intersect the boundary at Baxter Springs, fifteen miles east of the 
Neosho. Its line to Baxter Springs was completed to that place, April 
30, 1870.5 The line of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Southern Branch, 
followed the valley of the Neosho from the source of that stream to the 
southern boundary of Kansas, which line was reached by the tracklayers at 
noon, on June 6, 1870. This work was done under the name of Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railway Company, under which title the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company, Southern Branch, had been reincorporated on February 


3, 1870. 


oa : Thirty-ninth Congress, 1st Session, Chap. 261 (U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XIV, pp. 
6-39.) 

5. Brief in the Supreme Court of the United States, the State of Kansas (in behalf of 
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company) vs. the United States of America, Ethan 
Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior et al., October term, 1905, pp. 55-56. 


478 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


The following were the chief arguments advanced for railroad develop- 
ment in the Indian Territory since 1870 on: 

(a) The public defense idea was strong. The military argument, the 
various roads would strengthen the army, decrease cost and increase rapidly 
of any military movement and enable the Government to deal more effectively 
with the Indians. 

(b) The increased economy and efficiency of the mail service was con- 
stantly held up as a chief end. 

(c) Railroads would open these lands to sale and settlement, enhance the 
value of the reserved portions, and develop resources of the country. 

(d) Union, the binding together of the newly-acquired Pacific territories 
and East—the binding together of the North and South. 

(e) The first roads north and south would be an outlet for Texas cattle, 
hides, and cotton trade; and later develop trade with Mexico. 

In 1867, Congress had passed an act prohibiting territories from issuing 
articles of incorporation to railroad companies.® In 1872 this act was rescinded 
and a general act was passed regulating the incorporation of railway com- 
panies in all territories.’ The completing of the first two railway lines had 
been done with the express consent of the national governments of the Five 
Civilized Tribes as granted in the treaties of 1866. Even before the first rail- 
roads had been built into the Indian Territory the practice of making treaties 
with Indian tribes had ceased, and comparatively few agreements, subject to 
approval by Congress, were entered into thereafter. There was much dis- 
cussion as to how additional railway lines might be built into the Indian 
Territory, some believing that such matters should be made subject to agree- 
ment with the Five Civilized Tribes concerned, while others held that Con- 
gress should exercise the right of eminent domain and grant the privilege of 
such railway construction without the formality of prior agreements with the 
Indian tribes.8 This last view as to such right of eminent domain finally 
prevailed; however, it became customary to insert, in such acts, provisions 
requiring the consent of the Indians with the approval of the President. 

In 1886 an act was passed which authorized a railway company to con- 
struct and operate through the Indian Territory,® with a grant of a right- 
of-way of one hundred feet wide, with land for stations, etc., but the most 
interesting feature of the act was that concerning rates. The company was 
prohibited from charging higher rates than were authorized by the State of 
Arkansas, provided the passenger rates should not exceed three cents per 
mile. Furthermore, Congress reserved the right to regulate freight and pas- 
senger rates until a state government should be formed, when the control of 
this road was to pass to it. This act indicated the growth of a sentiment that 
found more complete expression in the passage and approval of the Interstate 
Commerce law, the following year.!° 


6. Statutes at Large, Vol. 14, p. 426. 
%. Ibid., Vol. 17, p. 390. 


8. See Rep. of Comm., 1872-73, Ser. No. 1578, p. 296, for full treatment. Also, Cong. Rec., 
1880-81, pp. 1418, 1902, 2377, 2407; H. Rep., 1883-84, No. 211; H. Rep., 1881-82, No. 934. 


9. Statutes at Large, 24, p. 124 Kansas City, Ft. Scott and Gulf R. R. Co. 
10. The words were: “To fix and regulate the cost of transportation.” 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 479 


Although the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company was five 
weeks behind the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad Company in reaching 
the boundary, it promptly asserted its claim to priority within the meaning of 
the conditions which had been set forth by the provision of the act of Con- 
gress already quoted, alleging as a reason that it had been the first to reach 
the boundary at the point designated, namely: “that point on the southern 
boundary of the state of Kansas where the line of the said Kansas & Neosho 
Valley Railroad shall cross the same,” which, as originally projected, was in 
the immediate valley of the Neosho River. The Kansas & Neosho Valley 
Railroad Company, however, contended that it had reached the valley of 
Spring River, a tributary of the Neosho and, consequently, within the scope 
of the Neosho Valley, and that, therefore, it had complied with the require- 
ments set forth in the act of Congress and was entitled to the privilege of 
extending its line across the boundary and on to Red River. 

Each of the contending corporations had powerful friends in Congress. 
The Congressional act which had stipulated the conditions to be fulfilled 
before permission to extend construction operations into the Indian Territory 
could be claimed, had placed the final decision in the hands of the President. 
When the Kansas and Neosho Valley line was completed to the boundary 
at Baxter Springs, the company which had built it promptly notified the 
President of the United States, to whom Secretary of the Interior Jacob D. 
Cox reported, under date of May 21, 1870, that none of the contending com- 
panies had as yet complied with the required conditions.1? 

At the suggestion of Secretary Cox, General William B. Hazen, super- 
intendent of Indian Affairs of the Southern Superintendency, and Enoch 
Hoag, who held a similar office in the Central Superintendency, were desig- 
nated as commissioners to personally investigate the matter and report upon 
the merits of the claims of the respective railroad companies involved. Upon 
the report of these commissioners, together with the certification of Governor 
James M. Harvey, of Kansas, the final recommendations of Secretary Cox, 
dated July 12, 1870, were based. These recommendations were duly approved 
by President Grant, on July 20, following the submission of the same to him 
and authorized the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company to enter the 
Indian Territory and build its proposed line to and across Red River, into 
Texas. 

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company had its line graded 
nearly all the way from the Kansas boundary to the Arkansas River by the 
close of the year 1870. The building of the bridges, especially the large one 
spanning the Arkansas River, had the effect of slowing down the work, how- 
ever. In May, 1871, a party of directors and heavy stockholders of the com- 
pany made a trip down to the end of the line on a tour of inspection. The 
track was laid as far as the Verdigris River by the latter part of October. 


11. A contemporary statement concerning the race between the railroad builders who 
were contending for a right-of-way across the Indian Territory will be found in Appen- 
dix XXXVII-1. 

12. Brief in the Supreme Court of the United States, the State of Kansas (in behalf of 
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company) vs. the United States of America, Ethan 
Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior et al., October term, 1905, pp. 38-54. 


480 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Three months later, it was running trains over the Arkansas River.1? There- 
after, progress was more rapid. Three months later, the track was laid to 
the North Canadian River and trains were running to McAlester before the 
end of the first half of the year.14 Tracklaying was completed to Limestone 
Gap before the end of July and, on August 19, 1871, trains were running into 
the new town of Atoka, on Middle Boggy Creek, which was only sixty-five 
miles from Red River.15 The first construction train crossed the bridge over 
Red River, into Texas, early in December.1® 


The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad—In April, 1871, the directors of the 
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company made an excursion over the road to 
the terminus at Seneca, Missouri, which was on the eastern border of the 
Indian Territory.17 From Seneca, they made a trip in carriages to Grand 


13. Railway Gazette, January 18, 1872. A brief description of the building of the Mis- 
souri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company’s line across the Indian Territory, by the late 
A. W. Robb, of Muskogee, is reproduced in Appendix XXXVII-2. 


14. Ibid., June 29, 1872. The agreement with the Creek Indians, the Southern Kansas 
Advance report, provides that a strip not to exceed three miles in width on each side of 
the road shall be sold to the company at a price to be fixed by the Creeks, which the com- 
pany may sell only to the Creeks. And now these simple-hearted aborigines offer to sell 
a strip only three feet wide on each side of the track, and say that it fulfills the treaty, as 
it certainly does not exceed three miles. At which guileless innocence of these children of 
the forest the Advance exclaims, “How is that for Lo?” 


15. Ibid., August 31, 1872. A brief reminiscence of the building of the Missouri, Kan- 
sas & Texas Railroad Company’s line in the Choctaw country, by Rev. Dr. J. S. Murrow, 
will be found in Appendix XXXVII-4. A Parsons, Kansas, dispatch to the St. Louis Repub- 
lican, dated September 20, 1872, says: ‘Yesterday a train of 16 cars of cattle from Red 
River City, or Denison, as the new city at the terminus of the road in Texas is called, 
passed through Parsons, under contract to be loaded in St. Louis in 5 days from time of 
starting. They had to drive two days out of the five; also a rest of 12 hours at Schell City. 
This road during the last 15 days of this month has shipped 499 carloads of cattle, 375 car- 
loads of coal, 170 carloads of material from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, 
and about 300 cars of merchandise for Texas. Immigration to Texas is increasing rapidly. 
Hight trains pass this place daily, averaging 18 cars per train. Tonight the track is within 
23 miles of Red River. This road will ship 30,000 bales of cotton into St. Louis this year.” 


16. Ibid., December 14, 1872, p. 236. The following communication from a Parsons 
(Kansas) correspondent appeared in the St. Louis Republican of September 20, 1871: 

“Yesterday a train of sixteen cars of cattle from Red River City, or Denison, as the 
new city at the terminus of the road in Texas is called, passed through Parsons, under con- 
tract to be landed in St. Louis in five days from time of starting. They had to drive two 
days out of five; also a rest of 12 hours at Schell City. This road during the last fifteen 
days of this month has shipped 499 carloads of cattle, 375 carloads of coal, 170 carloads of 
material from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and about 300 cars of mer- 
chandise for Texas. Immigration to Texas is increasing rapidly. Hight trains passed this 
place daily, averaging eighteen cars per train. To-night the track is within 23 miles of 
Red River. This road will ship 30,000 bales of cotton into St. Louis this year.” 


17. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company was chartered by act of Congress and 
approved July 27, 1866. Originally, it was planned to develop from St. Louis, Missouri, to 
San Francisco, California. It began operating out of St. Louis on a leased track, which it 
afterward purchased, and the road was extended southwestward to Springfield, Missouri. 
It was one of the land-grant roads, Congress having voted the usual amount of lands to 
aid in its construction. During the latter part of the year 1870 this line was extended to 
the town of Neosho, which is located on the eastern border of the Indian Territory. It was 
built to Vinita in the following year. In 1883, it was extended to Tulsa and, in 1889, across 
the Arkansas River, to Sapulpa. The company passed into the receiver’s hands in 1875. In 
1880 the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company was incorporated. The Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company was a part owner of the Atlantic & Pacific, as also 
was the St. Louis & San Francisco. After the last mentioned company had built its line 
into Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1880, the Atlantic & Pacific began the construction of a 
line westward. Also, and at the same time, construction work was begun in Arizona and 
Southern California. A connection was made with the Southern Pacific Railway at The 
Needles, California. The line from California eastward and the one from Albuquerque 
westward were each extended until they were joined. A survey was made from the end 
of the line in the Indian Territory to Albuquerque, but no building was attempted. Eventu- 
ally, a line between Albuquerque and Southern California was taken over by the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Company, while the line between the Indian Territory and St. Louis 
was acquired by the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 481 


River, returning by way of Baxter Springs. A month later the track was 
already nine miles into the Indian Territory, an excursion train, carrying a 
large party from Springfield, running through to Grand River on May 25.18 A 
month later trains were running as far as Oceuma, twenty miles west of the 
State line. 

During the summer of 1871, the survey of the proposed line of the Atlantic 
& Pacific Railroad Company across the Great Plains was made. The track 
was completed and the road opened for business as far west as the junction 
with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway, early in November.!9 There was 
a misunderstanding between the officials of the two railroads—Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas and the Atlantic & Pacific—as to where this junction or 
crossing should have been made. It seems that the former had planned to 
have the junction at Big Cabin, and had made its arrangements accordingly. 
The latter, on the other hand, decided to cross the track of the other road, 
which had already been built for seyeral months, two miles north of Big 
Cabin. This conflict of plans led to some active opposition on the part of the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Company, and it was some time before the two 
companies could compose their differences. While this trouble lasted, there 
was a rate war between Vinita and St. Louis, on both freight and passenger 
traffic charges. 

The selection of this point for a junction of the two roads was doubtless 
due to the fact that Colonel Elias C. Boudinot, exercising his privilege as a 
Cherokee citizen, had selected a “headright” of two thousand acres at this 
point.2° In a word, he had decided to lay out a townsite and build a town, 
regardless of the wishes of the management of the other railroad, but eventu- 
ally the two companies had to compromise their differences.?} 


Changes Due to Railroads—As might have been expected, the building of 
these first railroad lines into the Indian Territory marked an epoch in the 
lives of its people. Some of them, it is true, had visited “in the states” and 
these were familiar with railway travel; but to most of the rest, accustomed 
to travel and transportation only on horseback or in horse-drawn vehicles, 
steam locomotion was a decided novelty. The age-long isolation of the Indian 
Territory was broken in a measure at least. Instead of the occasional and 
uncertain arrivals of river steamboats, or the slowly moving freight wagons 
and of weekly or semi-weekly mail stages, with the delays incident to bad 
roads and high waters, freight and passenger trains came thundering by, at 


18. The Railway Gazette of June 8, 1871, p. 117. 


19. Ibid., August 5, 1871, p. 216. A brief account of this same survey across the Plains 
will be found in Appendix XXXVII-4. 

20. When Colonel Boudinot laid out a townsite on this tract, he named it Vinita. It is 
said to have been so named in honor of Miss Vinnie Ream, the sculpturess, of whom 
Colonel Boudinot is said to have been a friend and admirer. 

21. The Railway Gazette of November 11, 1871, p. 335. In this citation there is a brief 
review of the misunderstanding between the two companies, which will be found in Appen- 
dix XXXVII-5; also, in Appendix XXXVII-5 is reproduced a quotation from the St. Louis 
Republican by the Railway Gazette of December 23, 1871, giving in some detail the obser- 
vation of the excursion of the government commissioners who were sent to examine a 
report of the newly completed section of fifty miles between Neosho, Missouri, and Vinita, 
Indian Territory. 


Okla—31 


482 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


re 


least once each way, every day. True, nearly every train had to slow down 
occasionally to permit range stock to get off the track, while the sight of 
scared deer and wild turkeys scampering off the right-of-way at the approach 
of a locomotive was a common one with all trainmen. Local passenger 
travel was light and local freight traffic, except in occasional cattle and 
cotton shipments, would not have justified the operation of railways. How- 
ever, through traffic and travel made up for such deficiencies. Of course, there 
were very remote prospects for the development of more remunerative local 
patronage in after years. 

The first railways had no sooner entered the Indian Territory than stage 
lines and wagon freighting lines were established to points on ahead in the 
Territory and Texas and to Fort Smith, the railroad termini shifting from 
time to time as continued construction made the opening of new stations 
practicable. A permanent stage line was established between Muskogee and 
Fort Smith and continued to be well patronized until the last mentioned town 
secured railroad facilities of its own several years later. 

Chief in the list of outgoing freight shipments, of course, was that of trans- 
porting live cattle from the ranges of the Indian Territory and Texas to the 
packing centers, then in the earlier stages of development. The Missouri, Kan- 
sas & Texas Railroad Company constructed extensive cattle-loading yards at 
its Big Cabin station, immediately after the track had been laid to that point.?? 
Perryville, in the Choctaw Nation, was another cattle shipping station. These 
arrangements were made with the evident expectation that large herds would 
be trailed through from Texas rather than take the longer drives to shipping 
points in Central and Western Kansas. If so, however, the report was not 
justified, since the main stream of the trail herds still continued to flow north- 
ward to shipping points on the Kansas railways. The more general settlement 
of the lands of Central and Northern Texas possibly accounted for the failure 
to develop such an enterprise, since no room was left for the grazing of trail 
herds in transit. 

Cotton was also shipped from the Red River country to St. Louis, where it 
was reshipped by steamboat to New Orleans. Steamboat traffic with points 
in the Indian Territory, on both the Arkansas and Red rivers, began to decline 
from the day that it came into competition with the newly constructed rail- 
roads. 


The End of the Track—During the course of the construction of these first 
railways into the Indian Territory there was generally at each temporary 
terminus a settlement of tents, shacks and shanties, where the vicious element 
of the frontier country congregated just as it did in the new towns that sprang 
up suddenly into existence along the lines of other western railways which 
were built during that period, with this difference, that the Indian Territory 
“towns” were even less permanent than those which grew up in a single day 
and then as quickly all but disappeared on the lines which were built across 
the Great Plains in Kansas and Nebraska. 


22. Ibid., May 27, 1871, p. 103. ° 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 483 


There was some hesitancy on the part of the railway company about estab- 
lishing a division at Muskogee on account of the quality of the water, but 
Major J. A. Foreman met the required conditions by constructing an artificial 
pond for the collection of surface water. Aside from the location of the divi- 
sion at Muskogee, it did not materially differ from other towns which suc- 
cessively served as the terminus of the new railway line. The location of the 
Union Agency at that place added to its prestige also and, in time, it became 
something of a commercial and educational center also. But, in the beginning, 
it underwent the same crude and turbulent period that marked the other towns 
that served temporarily as “the end of the track.”? 

Nearly a decade passed after the Missouri, Kansas & Texas had built its 
line to the crossing of the Red River and the Atlantic & Pacific line had 
reached a junction with the former at Vinita, before there was any more rail- 
way construction in the Indian Territory. Late in 1881, the directors of the 
Atlantic & Pacific authorized the extension of the line from Vinita, in a south- 
west direction to the Arkansas River, the new terminus being named Tulsa 
and, within a month afterward, the contracts had been let for the grading and 
for the masonry construction for bridges.24 The line was completed to Tulsa 
and opened for business before the end of the year 1882.25 The terminus at 
Tulsa was but a temporary one, however, as the Arkansas River was bridged 
and the line extended to Red Fork within two years. At that time there was 
much talk of the extension of the line toa connection with the Western Division 
of the Atlantic & Pacific at Albuquerque. The original line had been surveyed 
westward through the lands of the Cherokee Outlet. This was changed, in 
1882, the proposed new route traversing the lands of the Unassigned District, 
so that if the line was actually constructed, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad 
Company might avail itself of the grant of alternate sections of public land on 
each side of the right-of-way across that tract.?6 


Denison & Washita Valley Railroad Company—A railway company was 
organized at Denison, Texas, early in 1886, for the purpose of building a rail- 
road from Denison to the coal fields in the vicinity of Lehigh, in the western 
part of the Choctaw Nation.*7 The first construction contract was made early 
in 1888. <A line between Lehigh and Coalgate was constructed during the 
year 1889. Eventually this road passed into the ownership of the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railroad Company. 


The St. L. & S. F. Builds Across the Choctaw Nation—As provided by the 
charter of the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Company, it was to build a branch 
road from Southwestern Missouri southward to Fort Smith, Arkansas. The 


23. J. H. Beadle, a Cincinnati newspaper correspondent, visited the line of the Mis- 
souri, Kansas & Texas Railway, during the course of its construction southward from 
Muskogee. The account of his observations will be found in Appendix XXXVII-6. 


24. A humorous incident in the history of the proposed extension of the Atlantic & 
Pacific Railway line westward from Vinita, is related in Appendix XXXVII-7. 


25. Railroad Gazette, October 13, 1881. 
26. Railroad Gazette, December 25, 1882. 
27. Railway Review, January 15, 1886. 


484 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


building of this line was the first construction work done by the St. Louis & 
San Francisco Railway Company as the successor of the Atlantic & Pacific. 
Fort Smith remained the terminus of the line for a number of years. Eventu- 
ally the extension of this line southwestward from Fort Smith across the 
Choctaw Nation to Paris, Texas, was taken up for consideration by the direc- 
tors of the company, and surveys were made for the construction of such a 
line. The grading and the roadbed was begun early in 1886.78 Track laying 
began in the following autumn and was finished through to Paris on May 
10, 1887.29 


The First Santa Fe Lines in the Indian Territory—The Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe Railroad Company was one of the first corporations of its class 
organized in the State of Texas. It was one of the land grant railroads which 
had been chartered to build a line from Atchison, Kansas, to Santa Fe, New 
Mexico. About 1878 it began building its first branch lines. It had also 
acquired by purchase the old Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston line, which 
became known as the Southern Kansas Division of the Santa Fe. By 1880, it 
had built to the border of the Indian Territory at several points, namely, Cof- 
feyville, Arkansas City, and Caldwell, while a line to Kiowa, Kansas, was in 
operation as early as 1885. 

In 1884 the project of building the Santa Fe extension across the Indian 
Territory, southward from Arkansas City, Kansas, first began to attract the 
serious attention of the officers and directors of the Santa Fe Company. 
Eventually it was decided that such a line should be constructed to the Gulf 
Coast at Galveston, Texas. In working this problem out a subsidiary corpora- 
tion, known as the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company, was organ- 
ized and incorporated. This company was to build the line northward to a 
junction with the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company 
at a point on the Canadian River on the northern boundary of the Chickasaw 
Nation. 

The surveys having been made, the actual work of grading the roadbed 
began late in the summer of 1886. One thousand teams and ptactically twice 
that amount of men were employed on the work between Arkansas City and 
the Canadian River.8° The track was laid to Ponca station by the middle of 
December. The track layers reached the vicinity of the present site of Perry 
by the end of the year, and it reached the Canadian River early in April.81 
Some delay was necessary there while the bridge was being completed. 

In building the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe north of Red River, the con- 
tractors were delayed somewhat by reason of the fact that the Indians were 
not permitted to sell either stone or timber. Consequently, all bridge timbers 
and railroad ties had to be shipped in from Texas, and all stone for masonry 
construction for bridges had likewise to be transported from Texas.®? 


28. Railway Review, May 28, 1886. 

29. Railway Review, May 20, 1887. 

30. Railroad Gazette, September 24, 1886. 
31. Railway Age, April 8, 1887. 

32. Railway Review, January 22, 1887. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 485 


The Southern Kansas Division of the Santa Fe and the Gulf, Colorado & 
Santa Fe lines were joined just south of the Canadian River at a new town 
called Purcell.83 Several months elapsed before the new road was put into 
commission, late in the summer of 1887. When the road was opened for busi- 
ness the stations between the Kansas line and the Canadian River were as 
follows: Willow Springs, Ponca, Red Rock, Mendota, Alfred (Mulhall), 
Guthrie, Edmond, Oklahoma, Norbeck (Moore), Norman, Walker and Pur- 
cell. Several of the towns of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe between Red 
River and the Canadian were namesakes of towns in the suburban region west 
of Philadelphia, where some of the stockholders lived. These include Ard- 
more, Berwyn, Marietta, Overbrook, Wayne, and Wynnewood. 

At the same time that the Gulf line of the Santa Fe was being built south- 
ward across the Indian Territory, the southwestern line from Kiowa was being 
extended across the northwestern part of the Territory toward the Panhandle 
of Texas. This line reached the Canadian River early in April, 1887. The 
bridge was completed and the railroad reached the town of Canadian, Texas, 
late in August and was opened for business in September of that year.°4 


The Kansas and Arkansas Valley—This road, commonly known as the 
Iron Mountain, was built as a part of the Missouri-Pacific system. The line 
of this railroad which was built from Little Rock to Fort Smith, ten years 
before, practically put an end to steamboat navigation on the Arkansas above 
Little Rock. The construction of its line through the Indian Territory, from 
Van Buren, Arkansas, up the valley of the Arkansas River to Fort Gibson, 
on to the northwest, was ordered by the directors of that company in March, 
1887. Track laying began about the middle of July following. The road was 
opened for business through to Wagoner, Indian Territory, in September, 
toos. 

In 1889, after the road was in operation to a junction with the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas, at Wagoner, the company decided to extend the line to Cof- 
feyville, Kansas. This extension was completed through to Coffeyville late 
in October, 1889. Jay Gould, the head of the Missouri-Pacific system, with a 
number of officers and directors, made an inspection trip over the line shortly 
afterward.®¢ 


The Choctaw Coal & Railway Company—This company was incorporated 
at Philadelphia in 1887, for the purpose of developing coal lands in the Indian 
Territory. Its general office was located in Minnesota.§7 The Choctaw Rail- 
road & Coal Company was incorporated in Texas to build a railway line from 
a point in Grayson County, Texas, southwest to a connection with the Den- 
ver, Texas & Fort Worth, in Wise County, and it was reputed to be a continu- 
ation of the Choctaw Railroad & Coal Company, which had been incorporated 


33. Railway Review, June 8, 1887. 

34. Railway World, September 16, 1887. 
85. Railway World, September 14, 1888. 
36. Railway World, November 1, 1889. 

37. Railway World, December 30, 1887, 


486 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


in the Indian Territory a short time before. In April, 1889, it was 
announced that a survey for the proposed line would be made from McAlester 
to a connection with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in the Okla- 
homa country.®9 

Most of the officers and directors in the Choctaw Railroad & Coal Com- 
pany resided in or near Philadelphia and were connected with the Lehigh 
Valley Railway, Mr. Charles Hartshorne, first vice-president of the Lehigh 
Valley Company being president of this company, and Mr. William C. Alder- 
son, treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Company, was treasurer of the new com- 
pany. It is announced the purpose was to build across the Indian Territory, 
connecting the Texas line of the St. Louis & San Francisco, Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the Chicago, Kansas & 
Nebraska (Rock Islands lines). It was also planned to extend the road pos- 
sibly to Little Rock and from Fort Reno west to a connection with the Fort 
Worth & Denver, in the Panhandle of Texas.*? 

Construction of the Choctaw Railway began at Wister Junction, on the St. 
Louis & San Francisco line, working westward toward a junction with the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas road, near McAlester, and also at El Reno, where 
it was to be built from El Reno eastward to Oklahoma City, where it was to 
cross the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. 

The Choctaw Railway Company applied for a receiver in 1891, the treas- 
urer stating that the company had been obliged to resort to such a course in 
order to protect its creditors. In addition to its tracks already in operation, it 
held valuable coal leases in the Choctaw Nation which had been developed to 
an output of approximately six hundred tons per day. The receivers filed their 
report in the United States District Court at South McAlester,4! showing that 
the road’s cash receipts exceeded its disbursements, and indicating that its 
affairs were not at all hopeless. The creation of the receivership, of course, 
had the effect of halting construction. The bondholders agreed to advance 
the money to complete the construction of the line east from El Reno (where 
the work had been stopped at Yukon) to a junction with the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe at Oklahoma City. This western division was afterward greatly 
extended, first, to Shawnee, and eventually to McAlester. Part of this work 
was done after the financial depression of 1893, which had almost ended rail- 
way building in the country for the time being. 


The Rock Island Line Across Oklahoma—Late in 1885, the Chicago, Rock 
Island & Pacific Railway Company, which long had several termini on the 
Missouri River, began to consider the feasibility and advisability for extend- 
ing its lines westward and southwestward in Kansas, Indian Territory, Texas, 
New Mexico, and Colorado. This was done by first organizing and incorpo- 
rating in a subsidiary company to be known as the Chicago, Kansas & 


38. Railway World, February 17, 1888. 
39. Railway World, April 5, 1889. 

40. Railway World, January 3, 1890. 
41, Railway World, May 29, 1891. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 487 


Nebraska Railway Company. A survey of the proposed new lines was begun 
in the summer of 1886. The construction of the two lines, a junction at Her- 
ington, Kansas, was proposed. One of these was to pass in a direction 
slightly west of south, through Wichita, whence it followed very closely the 
line of the old Chisholm Trail to a crossing of the North Canadian River, five 
miles below Fort Reno, and thence nearly due south to Fort Worth, Texas. 
The line was completed at Caldwell, Kansas, in 1887, and surveys were con- 
tinued on southward to Fort Worth. The work of grading on this line began 
at Caldwell late in May, 1888.42 Three months later the road was completed 
to Pond Creek, though not placed in operation until April of the following 
year, just before the opening of the Oklahoma lands. Simultaneously with the 
beginning of this service the president of the road announced that the Rock 
Island Railway Company was taking over the lines of the Chicago, Kansas 
& Nebraska Railway Company, in Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and the 
Indian Territory. The new train service to Pond Creek, it was announced, 
would connect with the stages running through by daylight to Kingfisher, at 
which point a new Government land office was to be located, and also to Fort 
Reno. The work of grading the roadbed southward from Pond Creek to King- 
fisher was resumed in July and vigorously pushed.4* 

The Rock Island line to Hennessey was opened for business October 1 and 
at Kingfisher about three weeks later.44 In January, 1890, contract was let 
for an extension southward from E1 Reno across the Canadian River to a new 
terminus at Minco.*5 The end of the line remained at Minco for about two 
years. In February, 1892, active work on grading the roadbed southward was 
resumed, more than a thousand men and five hundred teams being employed on 
the work.*® The track reached Duncan !ate in June, and the company opened its 
station at Terral, on Red River, early in September.47 


Kansas City Southern—The Kansas City Southern Railway was largely 
constructed during the business depression which existed between 1893 and 
1897. It was projected and built under the direction of Arthur E. Stilwell, of 
Kansas City. It extended from Kansas City, Missouri, to Port Arthur, Texas. 
About one hundred miles of its trackage traversed Oklahoma soil in the Cher- 
okee and Choctaw nations. Its founder and builder ultimately lost control of 
it, but after its reorganization it was still maintained as an independent line, 
and is now accounted a very efficient and successful transportation enterprise. 


Subsequent Railway Developments—With the election and inauguration 
of President William McKinley, the financial depression under which there 
had been great business stagnation throughout a period of nearly four years, 
began to show signs of abatement and, with it, renewed agitation for the 


42. Railway Review, June 1, 1888. 

43. Railway Review, July 12, 1889. 

44, Railway Review, October 4, 1889. 

45, Railway Review, January 17, 1890. 
46. Railroad Gazette, February 26, 1892. 
47, Railroad Gazette, September 16, 1892. 


488 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


building of additional railway lines in Oklahoma and Indian territories. Sim- 
ultaneously the Choctaw line projected an extension eastward from Wister 
Junction to Little Rock and westward from Fort Reno to Wetherford; then 
the Santa Fe planned its Eastern Oklahoma Division, while the Rock Island 
planned several branches and feeder lines. Railroad building slowed up then 
to some extent, until after the Presidential election of 1900, after which it was 
resumed with greater activity and more energy than ever before in the history 
of the two territories. 

Between 1900 and 1905, inclusive, railroad building by all of the major 
companies in Oklahoma—the Santa Fe, the Rock Island, the Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas, the St. Louis & San Francisco—was very active. Several independ- 
ent lines were constructed or projected, including the Midland Valley and the 
Kansas City, Missouri & Oklahoma, and several smaller lines were later 
absorbed by some of the major companies. In 1902 the Choctaw, Oklahoma 
& Gulf Railway was purchased by the Rock Island Company and has ever 
since been a constituent part of the Rock Island system. The Rock Island 
built its southwestern lines across the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1901. In 1902, 
the Frisco and Rock Island were merged, but later were separated. 

Subsequent to the period of greatest activity in railroad building just men- 
tioned, but two roads of importance have been constructed, namely, the Kan- 
sas, Oklahoma & Gulf and the Wichita Falls & Northwestern, and the former 
is operated as an independent enterprise, but the latter is operated under lease 
by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company. 

The first telegraph lines in the Indian Territory were built with the first 
railways, of course. <A military telegraph line, from Wichita, Kansas, to 
Fort Reno, was the first telegraph line in the western part of the territory, 
being constructed and put into operation two or three years after that post 
was established. The first telephone line to be built and operated in Okla- 
homa was the one between Fort Reno and Darlington, in 1884. Two or three 
years later a telephone line was constructed between Muskogee and 
Tahlequah. 


ate 
. > 
\ 
Se 
ere 
is 


CHAPTER XXXVIII 


THE EXTERMINATION OF THE BUFFALO 


as Rye Bi ete) oe ee | ee i, a) 


Dh Ua 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
THE EXTERMINATION OF THE BUFFALO. 


The American bison or buffalo, as it was commonly called, had a habitat 
that extended from the Alleghany Mountains to the Rocky Mountains, and 
from the sub-tropical Northern Mexico to sub-artic Western Canada. East 
of the Mississippi River and in the wooded portions of the states immediately 
west of the Mississippi, these animals were never found in extensive herds, 
and they were practically exterminated east of that river by the end of the 
eighteenth century. Nuttall saw buffalo in the valley of the Kiamichi in 1819, 
and the Leavenworth-Dodge expedition found them near the mouth of the 
North Canadian in 1834. 

While the buffalo were more or less sparsely distributed throughout 
timbered sections of the Mississippi Valley, the natural conditions presented 
by the prairies and high plains of the West were much more favorable, as 
they literally swarmed throughout that vast region, their numbers being 
much greater than those of any other species of large game animal in any part 
of the world since the dawn of the historic period. Indeed, the buffalo herds 
were so common and so numerous upon the Great Plains, that the name for 
that extensive region and “the buffalo country,” were in reality synonymous 
terms, until the extermination of the shaggy beasts put an end to the mean- 
ing. The description of the size and number of the buffalo herds which come 
down to us from thoroughly reliable sources are such as to seriously tax the 
credulity, yet the evidence is so creditable that the facts as stated cannot be 
gainsaid. It would not seem to be out of place to cite some authorities upon 
the subject. 

Much has been written concerning the buffalo herds and their extinction, 
one of the most exhaustive treatises —being that of William T. Hornaday, 
entitled “The Extinction of the American Bison,” published by the National 
Museum, in 1888. In this volume the author quoted a letter written to him 
by Colonel Richard I. Dodge, 23d United States Infantry (author of “The 
Hunting Grounds of the Great West” and of “Our Wild Indians”), in which 
he gave a most striking description of a big buffalo herd and the number of 
animals in it.1 

The late Robert M. Wright, of Dodge City, who was engaged in buying 
and shipping hides, in his volume of personal reminiscences, written during 
the latter years of his life, recorded his impressions as to the numbers of some 
of the great buffalo herds on the Southern Plains.? 

Another writer, who had also been a buffalo hunter, was the late William 
D. Street, of Oberlin, Kansas, who contributed some interesting and instruc- 
tive reminiscences along the same line.® 


1. “Extermination of the American Bison,” pp. 388-91. See Appendix XXXVIII-1. 
2. “Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital,” pp. 75-77. See Appendix XXXVIII-2. 
8. “Kansas Historical Society Collections,’ Vol. IX, pp. 42-44. See Appendix XXXVIII-3. 


492 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


During the early seventies, the business of buying buffalo skins and hides 
for shipment was one which reached very large proportions at a number of 
places on the first railways which were built across the Great Plains.4 

The buffalo, or bison, was a very hardy beast, inured to extremes of heat 
and cold and apparently thriving on scant pasturage. It was reputed to live 
to the age of thirty years and, though the rate of increase may not have been 
equal to that of domestic cattle, it certainly was sufficient in the aggregate, 
had the number slaughtered annually been limited to the needs of the Indians 
and settlers, to have perpetuated vast herds many years longer than they 
actually were permitted to exist. The westward extension of the settlements 
in Texas, Kansas and Nebraska had the effect of pushing the limits of the 
buffalo range slowly but surely westward toward the Rocky Mountains, 
which already formed the western limit. However, it would seem improbable 
that the westward extension of the settlements would have caused the extinc- 
tion of the buffalo herds much, if any, short of the end of the nineteenth 
century, whereas, they were practically blotted out twenty to twenty-five 
years before that time. 

The factors which entered most largely into the extermination of the 
millions of buffalo were the extension of railways into the buffalo range and 
the invention and manufacture of the high-power repeating rifles, which 
came into use about the time the first railway lines began to penetrate the 
Great Plains region. So long as the products of the buffalo hunt—hides, 
tanned robes, dried meat and tongues—had to be transported hundreds of 
miles, by wagon, to the Missouri River for shipment, the buffalo herds were 
free from danger of immediate extermination, even though each succeeding 
year saw their ranges slightly narrowed by reason of the extension of the 
settlements. But the seven years between 1866 and 1873, inclusive, saw 
three railway lines pushed across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains, 
between the Platte and Arkansas rivers. Of course these offered a convenient 
and economical means of transportation of the products of the buffalo hunt 
to markets which had hitherto been out of reach. At the same time, as if to 
put a premium upon human cupidity, the high-power, long-range, breech- 
loading magazine rifles were first manufactured and sold for the purpose of 
rendering the killing of buffalo easy and expeditious. 

The killing of buffalo solely for their hides became a systematically organ- 
ized business, with a well defined division of labor, one man of each hunting 
party being an expert, long-range marksman, a part of whose skill was to 
“get a stand” on a bunch of buffalo at a distance and in the direction from 
whence the wind came and then shoot them down in succession until all 
were killed. This “killer’ was followed by the skinners, who spent their 
entire time in divesting the slain animals of their hides, while the teamster of 
the party followed with a wagon to gather up the pelts and haul them to 
camp, where they were stretched to dry in the sun. 

The buffalo of the region south of the Platte River were commonly desig- 
nated as “the southern herds,” as they generally ranged northward into 
Kansas and Nebraska in the spring and early summer and southward into 


4. “Life of ‘Billy’ Dixon,” pp. 61-62. See Appendix B, XXXVIII-4. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 493 


the Indian Territory and Texas in the autumn season. Consequently, the 
decimation of the buffalo herds in Kansas or Texas directly affected the 
supply of that sort of game in the western part of the Indian Territory. The 
slaughter of the buffalo herds went steadily on, not only in western Kansas, 
eastern Colorado and the Texas Panhandle but also in that part of Texas 
which lay to the south of the upper valley of Red River. News items in the 
pioneer press of that period sometimes related outstanding deeds and doings 
of the buffalo range.® i 

The buffalo bone gathering industry has already been alluded to by one 
of the writers quoted. Few people have any idea of the magnitude of this 
peculiar business. Buffalo bones were to be seen stacked up for shipment at 
some points along the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, in 
western Kansas and eastern Colorado, as late as the autumn of 1886—fully 
ten years after the bulk of the great herds of the Southern Plains had been 
killed almost to a point of extermination... In his book, “Dodge City, the Cow- 
boy Capital,” the late Robert M. Wright told of the buffalo bone industry of 
his town which was an important one for ten or a dozen years following the 
disappearance of the buffalo herds. 

Although the railroad was a long way from the border of the old buffalo 
range in the western part of the Indian Territory, yet many a wagon load of 
bones of the vanished wild herds were hauled from Northwestern Oklahoma 
to Wichita from the northern part of present Oklahoma. Freighters return- 
ing with empty wagons after having hauled loads of merchandise or supplies 
for the military posts or Indian agencies along the line of the old Chisholm 
Trail were wont to stop in the valleys of the Cimarron or the Salt Fork 
(Nescatunga) and load up with buffalo bones for which they found a ready 
market at $7.00 per ton when they reached the end of the railroad at Wichita; 
of course it was a long haul but, as the journey had to be made anyway, it 
was so much added to the proceeds of the round trip. The bone picker even 
has a place in the literature of Oklahoma, Scott Cummins (“The Pilgrim 
Bard” )® having indicted six pathetic verses entitled “The Song of the Bone 
Pilgrim,” while gathering buffalo bones in the valley of Eagle Chief Creek, 
within the present limits of Woods County, in September, 1879. The verses, 
two of which are here quoted, were originally written with a bullet on the 
bleached shoulder blade of a buffalo. 


5. For items in pioneer press relative to buffalo hunters, see Apendix XXXVIII-5. 


6. Scott Cummins was born in Ohio, in 1846. When he was two years old his parents 
migrated to the frontier of Iowa, where his early life was spent, but with meagre educa- 
tional advantages. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the volunteer military service and 
served till the end of the conflict. He moved to Kansas in 1870 and a couple of years later, 
settled in the wilderness of Barber County, where he followed the occupation of a buffalo 
hunter in southwestern Kansas and northwestern Oklahoma as long as the buffalo 
remained. When the great herds had vanished, he gathered and hauled their bones to 
market at Wichita, which was then the nearest railway station. He continued to live in 
Barber County, Kansas, until September, 1893, when _the Cherokee Strip was opened to 
settlement, after which he resided in Woods County, Oklahoma. He was a prolific writer 
of verse, a volume of his poems, entitled “Musings of the Pilgrim Bard,’’ having been pub- 
lished in 1903. He was a rustic philosopher who had read the book of nature as he had 
lived his life in the open. He was peculiarly a poet of the short grass plains, the gypsum 
canyons and the sand dunes of the Southwest. His writings are distinguished for their 
grasp of the humbler phases of the life of his time and environment, and for a spirit of 
broadest charity and catholicity. He died at his home in Woods County in March, 1928. 


494 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


I pass by the home of the wealthy, 

And I pass by the hut of the poor, 
But none care for me 
When my cargo they see, 

And no one will open the door, 

O think of the poor bone Pilgrim, 
Ye who are safely at home; 

No one to pity me, no one to cheer me, 
As o’er the lone prairie I roam. 


There’s a place, as we journey to market, 
Where the Ninnescah River doth flow; 
There we camp on the strand 
And fill each skull with sand 
To make up for shrinkage, you know. 
O think of the poor bone Pilgrim, 
Ye who are safely at home; 
No one to pity me, no one to cheer me, 
As o’er the lone prairie I roam. 


While the carcasses of the vast majority of the slaughtered buffalo were 
left to decay (since not even the vultures and the wolves could keep up with 
the supply of carrion), much buffalo meat was cured by drying in the open 
air. But little salt was used in this process, so that the flavor of the cured 
meat was much superior to that of modern factory-cured dried beef, in which 
the real flavor is destroyed by an undue amount of salt. “Jerked” buffalo 
meat, thus cured, was as commonly on sale in the grocery and general mer- 
chandise stores of the West as salt pork is today, while dried buffalo tongues 
were esteemed a great delicacy. 

Buffalo robes were plentiful and comparatively cheap, though the Indian- 
tanned robes always brought the higher price. Buffalo hides did not make 
good leather, though many bull hides were thus used, the product being 
exported to Europe, as American farmers and teamsters refused to buy 
buffalo leather harness. 

The last buffalo in Oklahoma County was killed in March, 1876, and the 
animals were rarely seen east of the Chisholm Trail after that time. During 
the autumn of 1876 and the succeeding winter, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
Indians secured 7,000 buffalo robes, for which they received an average of 
$5.00 each in trade. They also tanned 15,000 robes for the traders, who had 
secured them from white hunters, and for which process they were paid $2.00 
each. They suffered severe losses during the course of their buffalo hunt by 
reason of the incursions of white horse thieves. The Indians of the Wichita 
Agency secured about 5,000 buffalo robes during the same season. The 
Indians of all tribes were quite as anxious to save the meat as well as the 
robes. A herd of buffalo estimated to contain 40,000 animals, was on the 
North Canadian, between Camp Supply and the site of Woodward, late in 
July, 1877. Although that was not the season to kill for robes, the herd was 
even then surrounded by white hunters and the Indians of several tribes, all 
engaged in killing buffalo. 

The Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Comanches, Kiowas and the Plains Apaches 
hunted buffalo in the western part of the Territory again during the follow- 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 495 


ing season but the results were meagre. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes had 
only 219 robes to trade as the result of the hunt. The next season (1878-79) 
the buffalo hunt was practically a failure, the Indians returning with a few 
robes and little meat, and that was the last general buffalo hunt on the part 
of the Indians of the Southern Plains region. 

A few small bands of buffalo continued to roam in the Texas Panhandle 
and in No-Man’s-Land for some years after the business of hunting them 
ceased. Indeed, they were so few and so wary that it was scarcely worth 
while to hunt them. A small herd was reported to have wintered in the valley 
of the Cimarron, in Morton County, Kansas, in 1885-86. Early in the following 
spring the carcasses of two buffalo which had been killed in No-Man’s-Land 
were hauled by wagon to Pueblo, Colorado, where they were sold to a meat 
market. In the summer of 1888 “Buffalo” Jones, who had been one of the 
pioneers in the endeavor to domesticate the buffalo, tried to round up and 
capture what was supposed to be the last remnants of the great southern 
herd still ranging over No-Man’s-Land and the northern part of the Texas 
Panhandle, but with the exception of young calves, he was utterly unable to 
keep any of them alive, even after they were captured.? The last wild buffalo 
in Oklahoma, a lonely old bull, was killed at Cold Spring, in Beaver (now 
Cimarron) County, in October, 1890. 

There can be no doubt that the means and methods of the hide-hunters 
were extremely wasteful in that the meat of the greater part of the slaugh- 
tered millions was left to feed the vultures and wolves, if not to decay. 
Humane sentiment and sound policy would have been on the side of the 
preservation of these splendid animals. But, regardless of sentiment or policy, 
the fact remains that the extermination of the buffalo was the one thing 
needful to persuade the restless Indians to settle down on their reservations 
and cease from roaming at large. In the wake of the slaughtered herds, two 
or three years later, came the gleaners of this harvest of blood and death, to 
gather up the bleaching bones to be shipped to the East for the manufacture 
of fertilizers. On the virgin sod of the Great Plains, the paths made by the 
buffalo going to and from drinking places, were still visible a quarter of a 
century later, while their circular wallows, like indelible autographs that 
they are, will still be in evidence a century hence, if the implements of hus- 
bandry do not obliterate them. 

Fortunately, for the perpetuation of the species, a few small herds of 
domesticated buffalo were established by catching the young calves and rear- 
ing them like domestic cattle. Iwo of the earliest of these were those of 
Charles Goodnight, of Palo Duro Canyon, in the Texas Panhandle, and Wil- 
liam C. (“Buffalo”) Jones, of Garden City, Kansas. At one time the total 
number of living animals of the species had been reduced to about 1,000, but 
in recent years the increase has been such as to multiply that figure until it 
now aggregates upward of 20,000. There are now several herds of buffalo in 
Oklahoma, namely, the herd maintained by the Government on the Wichita 
Mountain Forest Reserve; the one owned by the Io1 Ranch in Kay County, 


7. “Buffalo Jones’ Forty Years’ of Adventure,” pp. 201-23. 


496 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


and the one owned by Major Gordon W. Lillie (Pawnee Bill), in Pawnee 
County. All of these are increasing, the one of the Forest Reserve having 
grown from twelve animals in 1907 to over fifty in 1915, and now numbering 
over two hundred. The total number in Oklahoma is now about seven hun- 
dred and fifty. The State Game and Fish Commission also owns two small 
herds, as also do the municipal zoological parks of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. 


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CHAPTER XXXIX 


THE RANGE CATTLE INDUSTRY 


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THE RANGE CATTLE INDUSTRY. 


That the Indian Territory was well adapted to the live stock industry 
seemed to have been conclusively proven by the number of cattle that were 
stolen and confiscated during the Civil War. The end of the war found one- 
half of the state still in the buffalo range and the Indians of that region so 
hostile that the possibility of establishing the live stock industry in that 
part of the country was scarcely to be thought of as yet. With the opening 
of the cattle trail from Texas to the shipping points in Kansas in 1867, the 
men engaged in driving herds through the central part of the Indian Terri- 
tory had an opportunity to observe the character and quality of the soil, the 
water supply and the grasses and herbage suitable for grazing. As the years 
went by, the ranges of the Five Civilized Tribes were restocked with cattle. 
The number of cattle driven across the Indian Territory from Texas to Kan- 
sas for shipment increased each year until it was averaging nearly a third of 
a million annually. 

There had been a measure of risk in driving cattle northward to Kansas, 
in the beginning, as was evident by the fact that the trail kept to the eastward 
of the Kiowa-Comanche and Cheyenne-Arapaho Indian reservations. After 
the end of the outbreak of 1874, however, there was less apprehension of 
danger from those sources and, moreover, the buffalo had practically dis- 
appeared from the land lying east of the cattle trail. Most of the Unassigned 
Lands lay to the east of the cattle trail, When the buffalo were gone the grass 
still grew as luxuriously as before but, aside from the comparatively meagre 
amount of pasturage necessary to sustain the droves of wild horses (which were 
by no means uncommon)! and the scattered bands of deer and antelope, it re- 
mained ungrazed. Surely here was an opportunity which could not long 
remain unnoticed and unappropriated. So, within a year after the end of the 
last general Indian war on the Southern Plains, the range cattle industry was 
planted in the central and western parts of the Indian Territory. Herds were 
driven in, mostly from Texas, ranges were occupied, ranch buildings and 
corrals were built and a new era in the history of Oklahoma was begun with- 
out ceremony or announcement. The buffalo hunter had had his day and was 
gone and in his stead had come the herdsman with herds that were only a 
little less wild than the buffalo. Though this era of the range cattle industry 
in Oklahoma was not destined to be a long one, it was as distinctive and as 
picturesque as any period in the history of the State. The first cattle ranges 
thus selected were on the Unassigned Lands and on the unoccupied lands of 
the Cherokee Strip. The cattlemen quietly drove their herds in and turned 
them loose on the range without asking permission to do so, just as unoc- 


1. A description of one manner in which wild horses were captured on the range will 
be found in Appendix XXXIX-l1. 


500 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


cupied lands of the public domain of the United States in other states and 
territories were likewise occupied by stock ranches at that period. 

Except for the fact that the buffalo were gone and that the region was 
comparatively free from intrusion by the Indians, the lands upon which the 
cattle ranches were established were still in the condition of a primitive 
wilderness. Many of the smaller streams were as yet unnamed and the 
names by which they are now designated on the map are suggestive of the 
mental traits and terse language of the cattle range. As an instance of the 
informal and ofttimes accidental circumstances under which some of the 
smaller streams came to receive their names, there may be mentioned two 
small tributaries of the North Canadian River, in Oklahoma County. 

Early in the summer of 1876 Mr. L. C. Wantland, who later became a 
banker at Purcell, having just completed his education, returned home to the 
ranch of his father, which was located in the Chickasaw Nation, near where 
Purcell has since been built. After due consideration, it was decided that in 
order to give the son a chance to operate on his own account, a new ranch 
should be established in the unoccupied district known as the Unassigned 
Lands, at a point about thirty miles north of the Canadian River at Purcell. — 
Choosing his foreman and several men, he first made a prospecting trip for 
the purpose of locating the site for the headquarters of the new ranch. Pur- 
suing their way northward along the line of the Arbuckle Trail, they finally 
halted on the prairie at a point several miles southeast of the site of Okla- 
homa City. There it was agreed that young Wantland should explore the 
country to the east, while his foreman should ride over the country immedi- 
ately west of the halting place, each making careful examination of the topog- 
raphy, timber and water supply with a view to selecting the most advantage- 
ous site for the headquarters of the new ranch. In due time each returned to 
the rendezvous and made a report of the results of his investigations. The 
foreman had explored the valley of a small creek which heads at the divide 
between the two Canadian rivers and empties into the North Canadian 
River, within the corporate limits of Oklahoma City. After he had described 
the valley in some detail, its width, the quality of the soil, the grass, the tim- 
ber, the amount of water, the height of the creek banks, etc., one of them 
asked: 

“How about the channel of the creek? Is it straight?” 

“No—crooked as lightning,” was the instant response. 

After some discussion, it was decided to locate the ranch headquarters 
in or near the valley of another creek, which had been explored by the young 
“boss” of the new ranch. But the creek to the westward was commonly 
referred to by the ranch hands for a time as the “creek that is crooked as 
lightning,” and eventually, this means of designation was shortened and given 
a permanent place in local geographical nomenclature as Lightning Creek, 
by which name it is still known. The creek to the eastward, by the side of 
which the ranch buildings and corrals were built, remained unnamed until 
circumstances equally as accidental and unintentional suggested and supplied 
a name. Each ranch and range had its own brand, or brands. The brand was 
a device chosen by the owner of the ranch for the marking of the cattle and 


STEER WITH HORNS MEASURING 9 FEET AND 7 INCHES 


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OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 501 


horses belonging thereto. The form of this device might take any style sug- 
gested by the fancy of the owner, so long as it conformed to one requirement, 
namely, that it should be distinctive and not subject to confusion with the 
brand of some other ranch or range. The device which was adopted as the 
brand of the new Wantland ranch was not only distinctive but plain and 
simple as well. In the language of the ancient heraldry it might have been 
described as a crescent superior, with a short vertical bar inferior and a 
small circle sinister. However, the average cowpuncher (as the ranch em- 
ployees were commonly called) could have given the most learned expert in 


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The Crutch-O Brand 


heraldic parlance a mile the start and then beat him to the finishing post in 
the race when it came to a matter of comprehensible definitive description. 
That was why the brand of the new .Wantland ranch soon became known, 
not only among its own employees but also by those of all neighboring 
ranges as the “Crutch-O” brand. Likewise, in due sequence, the ranch itself 
became known as the “Crutch-O” Ranch, and as it had no other known name, 
the small stream which flowed past the ranch headquarters was dubbed 
Crutch-O Creek. And Crutcho Creek it remains to this day and moreover, the 
municipal sub-division through which it takes its course is officially desig- 
nated as Crutcho Township.? 

The cuiture, etiquette and customs of ranch life in the Indian Territory 
were, like the range cattle industry itself, practically all transplanted from 
Texas, where it had been developed by the earliest English-speaking Ameri- 
can settlers, though largely moulded by Spanish-Mexican influences. Certain 
Spanish words and phrases therefore had common currency throughout the 
cattle range, even in places where Mexicans were seldom or never employed, 
as a class. The men employed on the cattle ranches were distinguished for 
their frankness, hospitality and generosity with which was blended a large 
measure of physical and moral courage, and nothing excited such contempt 
in their minds as a specimen of so-called manhood in which any or all of 
these traits were lacking. As a rule they were peaceably disposed yet, living 
in a land wherein there was no law save that of rights that were self-asserted, 
men went armed and prepared for any emergency. They had their failings 
and faults and weaknesses, as indeed most of the rest of humanity has, yet, 
taken on the average, they measured up well according to the standards of 
pioneer manhood. Many of the young men who rode the ranges and attended 
the round-ups in Oklahoma during the later ’seventies and throughout the 
‘eighties are numbered among the substantial citizenship of today, though 
most of them have long been past the meridian of life. 

The trailing of cattle from the ranges of Western Texas across Oklahoma 
to railway shipping points in Kansas, continued through this period until, 
finally, the extension of the railroads to Texas led to shipment of many cattle 
by rail. Until 1880, practically all of the cattle followed the trails northward 


2. Personal information secured from Mr. L, Cass Wantland, 1912. 


502 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


from Red River Station, on what was always known as the Chisholm Trail. 
Abilene, Kansas, on the Kansas Division of the Union Pacific Railway, was 
the principal shipping point from the year of the first drive (1867) until the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad reached a temporary terminus at 
Newton, in 1871. The next year, the Santa Fe company had built a branch 
to Wichita, which was the greatest market for Texas cattle until the close of 
the shipping season in 1875. Great Bend had been competing with Wichita 
but it only lasted one year after the Wichita market was closed, the westward 
extension of the homestead settlements forcing the trail herds to go to Dodge 
City for shipment until 1880, when the Santa Fe company built a line to 
Caldwell, which was near the intersection of the Kansas-Oklahoma boundary 
line and the original Chisholm Trail. Thereafter the business was chiefly 
divided between Caldwell and Dodge City, though much went farther north, 
to points on the Union Pacific in Western Kansas and Western Nebraska. 

About the same time the railroad reached the terminus at Caldwell, a 
new trail was established across the Indian Territory for the driving of 
cattle to the Dodge City market. It entered the Territory near the site of the 
town of Grandfield, in the southeastern part of Tillman County and followed 
a northerly and northwesterly course, across the counties of Tillman, Coman- 
che, Kiowa, Washita, Custer, Roger Mills, Ellis, Woodward and Harper. 

The trail herds usually consisted of from 2,500 to 3,500 head of cattle, with 
from ten to fifteen men in charge and an allowance of from five to seven 
saddle horses to each man. There was always a foreman in charge, a horse 
wrangler, and a cook, who always accompanied the commissary, or chuck 
wagon. Even though several successive herds might belong to the same 
owner, great care was exercised in keeping them at suitable intervals, not 
only because of the fact that the cattle had been carefully graded and sep- 
arated before starting from the range but also because it was difficult if not 
impossible to manage stock in larger numbers at the watering places and in 
bedding them down at night. 

The shipping markets soon became discriminating as to the class and 
quality of stock which was desired for particular purposes. Thus heavy 
beeves—four- five- or six-year-old steers—were desired to fill the contracts at 
frontier army posts; cows were specified in the contracts to supply the vari- 
ous Indian agencies, while younger steers were sought by feeders and pack- 
ers. As a rule, stock from Northern Texas commanded a much better price 
than that from nearer the coast. Texas cattle which had been wintered in the 
North always were in demand. This led to the establishment of some of the 
first stock ranches in the Cherokee Outlet in 1876. For this privilege the first 
ranchmen paid a tax of twenty-five cents a head on their cattle to the Chero- 
kee Nation. The Cherokee authorities soon found that some stockmen were 
evading this tax, however, and this led to trouble. Some ranch owners re- 
sorted to the expedient of installing a Cherokee foreman in order to avoid fric- 
tion with the Government, which soon became involved in the dispute. 

After all the available ranges in the Cherokee Outlet and the Unassigned 
Lands had been occupied there was still a demand for more lands for ranch- 
ing in the western part of the Indian Territory. The leasing of the Indian 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 503 


reservations was considered as a means to such an end. Congress had made 
no provisions for such a contingency and it was doubtful if it could be in- 
duced to take such action. However, that did not stand in the way. The 
Indians were first persuaded to give their consent to lease their reservation 
lands for grazing purposes. In the case of the Cheyennes and the Arapahoes, 
leases aggregating 3,117,880 acres of land were made respectively to seven 
different parties for ten-year periods at an annual rental of two cents per 
acre, in January, 1883.2 The tribal agent vouched for the beneficence of the 
policy thus inaugurated. The fact that former agency employees and Indian 
supply contractors were included in the list of lessees was perhaps not with- 
out its significance. Be that as it may, however, trouble eventually came as 
the result of this action. 

In the Cherokee Outlet there was always more or less unrest because of 
the lack of any settled policy or understanding between the Federal Govern- 
ment and the Cherokee authorities in regard to the leasing of grazing privi- 
leges. Finally it became apparent that some species of tenure other than that 
of merely occupying the ranges would have to be devised. Meanwhile cattle- 
men were learning something of the advantages of organization. The Texas 
Cattle Raisers’ Association was the first of these organizations to be effected. 
The advantages of meeting in convention for the purpose of counseling 
together concerning matters of common interest soon manifested itself 
and similar associations of live stock men were formed in other parts of the 
West. In 1880, the Cherokee Nation levied a tax of $1.00 per head on all 
cattle held on the lands of the Outlet. The range cattlemen contended that 
this was exorbitant and refused to pay. The Cherokee authorities threatened 
to have them expelled as intruders, but finally, in December, 1880, the Chero- 
kee Council voted to reduce the head tax to forty cents each on grown stock 
and twenty-five cents each on yearlings. The movement for the forcible 
settlement of the Unassigned Lands also had a disquieting effect upon the 
range cattlemen, though as yet there had been no threat to locate on the 
lands of the Cherokee Outlet, or “Strip,” as it was commonly called. The 
movement for the organization of the cattlemen of the Cherokee Strip began 
early in 1881 and the first convention was held at Caldwell, Kansas, March 
16 of that year. S. S. Birchfield was chairman of the meeting and R. F. Craw- 
ford was secretary. That meeting was the beginning of the movement which 
culminated in the organization of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, 
two years later. Many matters of common interest were discussed and ar- 
rangements were made for the registration of the cattle brands in use by the 
ranchmen of the Cherokee Outlet. 

The second meeting of the Cherokee Strip cattlemen was held on March 
6, 1882, at Caldwell. The fact that they were gaining confidence as the result 
of organizing was amply attested by the amount of wire fence which was 
built on the ranges during the following summer. The fencing of the ranges 
in the Cherokee Strip had a very disquieting effect upon the “boomers” who 
were trying to effect a settlement in the Unassigned Lands, as it indicated the 


3. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1883, pp. 61-62. 


504 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


existence of strong political backing for the cattle interests at Washington 
and therefore portended a protracted struggle for the opening of any or all 
public lands in the Indian Territory for settlement. From that time on the 
issue between the range cattle interests and the intending settle1s was clearly 
defined. In the very nature of things, there could be no compromise between 
these conflicting interests. Either the range cattle industry was doomed to go 
or else the day of the realization of the fond dreams of the “boomers” had to 
be postponed indefinitely. As yet, the scale of political influence was balanced 
in favor of the range cattle industry; public opinion outside the immediate 
border of the Indian Territory was indifferent and the leading papers were 
hostile to the “boomers.” 

The third annual meeting of the Cherokee Strip cattlemen was held at 
Caldwell, March 6, 1883. At this meeting, the organization of the Cherokee 
Strip Live Stock Association was effected. This association was duly char- 
tered under the laws of Kansas. Its general offices and headquarters were at 
Caldwell, which virtually became, for the time being, the political capital as 
well as the commercial, financial and social center of range cattle industry of 
the Cherokee Outlet. Caldwell was not merely a shipping point for trail herds 
from the southern cattle ranges generally; its banking facilities and mercan- 
tile supply establishments were ample for the needs of all patrons. More- 
over, many if not most of the men who were actively engaged in operating 
ranches in the Cherokee Strip, established their homes at Caldwell and had 
their families there. Other towns along the border, such as Hunnewell, Kiowa 
and Englewood, competed for part of the trade of the Cherokee Strip ranch- 
men, but Caldwell continued to be regarded as the greatest “cowtown” in 
Southern Kansas until the settlement of Oklahoma put it out of reach of the 
trail herds. 

The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association had nine active directors 
and its affairs and interests were carefully guarded by its officials. The metes 
and bounds of the subleased ranges were carefully surveyed and mapped. 
Although its affairs eventually involved considerable litigation, it did not 
have a regularly organized legal department but depended upon making spe- 
cial contracts with various attorneys as occasion seemed to demand. On the 
5th of July, 1883, the directors of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association 
entered into contract on its behalf with Dennis W. Bushyhead, principal chief 
of the Cherokee Nation, by the terms of which all of the unoccupied lands of 
the Cherokee Outlet, stated to be approximately 6,000,000 acres, were leased 
to the new corporation for the lump sum of $100,000 per annum, for the full 
term of five years, beginning October 1, 1883. The Cherokee Strip Live Stock 
Association then subleased to the various individuals, firms and corporations 
which had already established ranges in the Outlet. Most of the sublessees 
were stockholders in the leasing association. 

The Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association became a power in the deter- 
mination and conduct of public affairs in a large section of the western part 


4. The first directors of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association were: E. M. Hewins, 
J. J. Hamilton, A. J. Day, S. Tuttle, M. H. Bennett, Ben S. Miller, A. Drumm, E. W. Payne, 
and Charles H. Eldred. 


ae 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 505 


of the Indian Territory from the date of its organization and incorporation. 
While it was primarily a business institution, it was sufficiently versatile to 
take a hand in politics or social affairs, or any other line that would further 
its interests. Although its interests were local, its influence was powerful and 
widely extended, being manifest in the halls of Congress and in the executive 
departments of the Government at Washington, and also in the great financial 
centers. It was liberal in its advertising patronage, thus controlling the senti- 
ment of many newspapers, both local and metropolitan. Its list of stock- 
holders and supporters was reputed to include senators and representatives 
in Congress, leading officials of the Government and Wall Street financiers. 
It leased nearly six million acres and sublet much of the same at a good 
round profit. It could levy assessments against sublessees and, if the same 
were not paid, could confiscate stock in satisfaction therefor, an act for which 
there was no recourse to any court. Its plan of operations was at once simple, 
systematic and complete.® 

The intervention of the leasing company between the Cherokee Nation 
and the individual ranchman had the effect of stimulating confidence in the 
range industry in the Indian Territory very materially. The day of petty con- 
tentions and bickerings between the individual range holder and the tribal 
authorities was at an end. Matters of public policy affecting the interests of 
the range industry as a whole, were carefully watched and guarded by the 
directors of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association or their duly author- 
ized agents or representatives. With much of the former uncertainty thus 
cleared away, ranch operators were enabled to devote themselves more com- 
pletely to their personal affairs and the business became more prosperous in 
consequence. 

The buildings at the headquarters of a ranch were usually constructed of 
materials secured near at hand, log walls being the rule when timber of suit- 
able size could be secured. In the western part of the Cherokee Strip where 
timber of large size was lacking, the walls of ranch buildings were of stock- 
ade construction, that is, they were built of small logs set on end in the 
ground, sawed even and spiked together with a plate at the top, the interstices 
being plastered with gypsum or clay. Stockade walls were usually built of 
red cedar timber. Many of the log and stockade walled houses had earthen 
roofs. Still other ranch buildings had walls of sod or turf, while others were 
mere hillside dugouts, with earthen roofs. Some of the larger ranches had 
several buildings at headquarters, including a commodious cottage or cabin 
for the foreman or superintendent (who in some instances was accompanied 
by his family),® a bunk house, a cook shack and dining hall, a storehouse, etc. 
As a rule the employees were well paid and well fed. 

One of the big events of ranch life were the spring and fall “round-ups,” in 
which all the cattle of a given area were literally “rounded up,” identified by 


5. “History of the Ranch Cattle Industry in Oklahoma” (Annual Report for the 
American Historical Association for 1920, pp. 307-22), by Edward Everett Dale; also, by 
the same author, “The Cherokee Live Stock Association (Proceedings of the 5th Annual 
Seas of the Southwestern Political and Social Science Association—Fort Worth, 


6. “Musings of the Pilgrim Bard,” pp. 90-91: also, personal information secured from 
Charles F. Colcord and Amos Chapman. See Appendix XXXIX-2. 


506 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


their respective brands and driven to their proper range if found off of it. 
The round-up was a community affair for all the ranges in a given area and 
every ranch included within that area was represented by its quota of range 
riders. The work of a round-up was systematically organized, for it usually 
required several days to gather up all the cattle of a district together. Accom- 
panying the round-up was the all important “chuck-wagon” and the cook, 
who became an adept in the art of having warm bread and hot coffee at hand, 
no matter how late the last straggling rider arrived. The etiquette of the cow 
camp was scant in the matter of punctilio; if a stranger arrived, weary and 
hungry, at meal time, he was not invited to dismount and take dinner or 
supper, as the case might be; on the contrary, he was expected to make him- 
self at home without any formal invitation—to hunt a tin cup and a tin plate, 
pour his own coffee, carve his own meat—in short, act as if he were to the 
“manner” born and not a “tenderfoot” for, no matter who he was or whence 
he came, he was a welcome guest. 

The round-up gave opportunity for each ranch to take an inventory of its 
stock, to determine the number of cows, to brand the calves and to form some 
estimate of the quality and probable value of the steers which would soon be 
ready for market. It also gave ample opportunity for the men from the 
different ranges to get acquainted and to form and cultivate that spirit of 
comradeship and unity of purpose which became so essential when the range 
cattle business in the Indian Territory became the target of the land-hungry 
“boomer” and the designing politician. It also aided in preventing losses by 
straying and in the detection of thievery. As a matter of common interest, 
nearly every ranchman became familiar with the brands of nearly every 
ranch and range within a radius of one hundred miles. So, though neighbors 
were few and far between, the spirit of true neighborhood could and did abide 
in that semi-wilderness as it does not in many a more densely populated 
community today. 

Ranch life was one of isolation and loneliness yet it had its charms and its 
compensations. Visitors “from the states’ sometimes came to break the 
monotony of the every-day round of life. There were hunting parties for re- 
ducing the number of wolves and, likewise, there were sometimes hunting 
parties that went in search of cattle “rustlers” or horse thieves. Sometimes, 
too, the monotony of ranch life was broken by rumors of an Indian outbreak, 
which, however, actually occurred but once after the range cattle industry 
was planted in Western Oklahoma. In the very nature of things, such a stage 
of industrial development could not last long in a land which was plainly 
adapted to a more advanced stage of cultural activity. In his brief day, the 
range cattleman and his herds were as picturesque as had been the Indian and 
the buffalo of the preceding epoch, and, like the latter, his place in the history 
and tradition—in song and story—is secure, though, unlike the Indian, he suc- 
ceeded in adapting himself to the change when it came. 

This period in the history of the State is largely filled with the story of the 
range cattle industry as a factor in public affairs—local, tribal and national, 
so the story of its development and of the activities of its leaders continues 
in subsequent chapters. 


GHAPTLER XL 


THE STRUGGLE FOR THE OPENING OF OKLAHOMA 


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CHAPTER XL. 
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE OPENING OF OKLAHOMA. 


After the first Oklahoma Bill was reported in Congress the subject of the 
proposed organization of the Indian Territory was never permitted to wholly 
escape attention of the National law-making body again. Between 1873 and 
1879, more than a dozen bills for organization of the Territory of Oklahoma 
were introduced in the Senate and the House of Representatives, while as 
many more, having for their object the establishment of a Federal Court in 
the Indian Territory, were introduced in the two houses of Congress. Either 
by express terms or by implication, several of the treaties made with the Five 
Civilized Tribes, in 1866, contained provisions for the establishment of a 
United States Court in the Indian Territory. Moreover, many of the agents 
and superintendents had called attention repeatedly to the need of such a 
tribunal but, as yet, all Federal cases originating in the Indian Territory 
were tried before the United States District Court at Fort Smith, Arkansas. 

There were two interests involved in the proposed opening of the unoc- 
cupied lands of the Indian Territory, namely: (1) The railroad companies, 
which were eager to find some means to make the contingent land grants 
operative; and (2) the people who were actually desirous of settling on the 
lands. Of the two interests, the first was easily the most influential and active 
at Washington prior to 1879, though the Indians offered some effective oppo- 
sition, else some of the smooth schemes for vitalizing the railroad land grants 
in the Indian Territory would doubtless have slipped through. One of the 
most active champions of the proposed territorial organization with provision 
for making the contingent railroad grants effective, was Stephen W. Dorsey, 
a “carpet-bag” Senator from Arkansas.1 On the other hand, Senator Samuel 
B. Maxey, of Texas (who had been the commander of the Confederate forces 
in the Indian Territory during part of the Civil War), introduced a bill specif- 
ically to repeal the contingent land grants.? 

When it became apparent that Congress, in view of the growing hostility 
to railroad land grants, would not pass an organic act for the Indian Terri- 
tory, merely to make the contingent land grants of the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas and the Atlantic & Pacific Railway (now the St. Louis & San Fran- 
cisco) companies effective, it was determined to force the issue by a new 
means. As the third session of the Forty-fifth Congress drew to a close, a 
preconcerted effort was made to encourage adventurous spirits to attempt to 
effect the settlement of unoccupied lands in the Indian Territory without 
awaiting governmental authority or permission. The first movement in this 
direction was a communication from Colonel E. C. Boudinot,? which was 

1. Congressional Record, 45th Congress, 2d Session, p. 353 (S. No. 529); also, 3d Session, 
p. 930 (S. No. 1757). 

2. Ibid., p. 1511 (S. No. 626). 


3. Elias Cornelius Boudinot was born near Rome, Georgia, in August, 1835. His mother, 
whose maiden name was Harriet Gold, was the daughter of an influential family at Corn- 


510 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


published in the “Chicago Times” of February 17, 1879, wherein he announced 
that the great bulk of the lands of the western part of the Indian Territory, 
which had been ceded or relinquished to the Federal Government by the 
Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes under the terms of their 
respective treaties made in 1866, were in reality a part of the public domain 
of the United States and, as such, were subject to settlement under the home- 
stead land laws of the Government.* Six weeks later, in answer to a letter of 
inquiry written to him by Augustus Albert, of Baltimore, Colonel Boudinot 
restated his view of the matter in a letter written March 31, 1879. 

Colonel Boudinot had been in Washington during the preceding Congress 
as the clerk of the House Committee on Private Land Claims. Whether he was 
in the service of the Atlantic & Pacific (now the St. Louis & San Francisco) 
Railroad Company at that time is not known, though such an inference is not 
unnatural. The fact that he had had a map prepared and printed and was 
offering to furnish the same upon request would seem to warrant the conclu- 
sion that there were some powerful influences behind him in his effort to push 
this propaganda. The fact that he had previously laid out the first railroad 
town on the line of the Atlantic & Pacific (St. Louis & San Francisco) Rail- 
road Company in the Indian Territory is perhaps not altogether insignificant 
in this connection. 

The Forty-sixth Congress was convened in a called session, March 19, 
1879. A few days later, T. C. Sears, general attorney of the Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas Railroad Company, returned to Sedalia, where he stated in a pub- 
lished interview® that his principal business at the national capital had been 
“to look after the organization of new committees on Indian Affairs and Ter- 
ritories, both in the House and Senate.’ He mentioned having been asso- 
ciated with Colonel Boudinot while in Washington and reiterated the state- 
ment that there were 14,000,000 acres of public land in the western part of the 


wall, Connecticut, where his father, Elias Boudinot (Galigina), a Cherokee, was educated. 
The mother died in 1836 and the father was assassinated with other leaders of the Ridge, 
or Treaty, Party, in 1839. Colonel Boudinot received his education in the schools of the 
Cherokee Nation and in New England, first fitting himself for the civil engineering profes- 
sion, but later turning to the study of law. He was always distinguished as a man of 
indomitable perseverance and unflagging industry. At the outbreak of the Civil War he 
was living in Arkansas and was a member of the secession convention in that State. 
Returning to the Cherokee Nation he aided in raising Stand Watie’s regiment for the Con- 
federate service and served as major and lieutenant-colonel of that organization. He also 
represented the Cherokee Nation as a delegate in the Confederate Congress, at Richmond. 
At the close of the war, he was the spokesman of the Southern Cherokees in the councils 
at Fort Smith (1865) and Washington (1866). By nature a radical, he accepted the results 
of the Civil War and readjusted himself to the changed conditions long before most of the 
leaders of his section and tribe could bring themselves to such a course. He spent much 
time in Washington City, where he was frequently consulted by Congressmen and depart- 
ment officials in regard to Indian affairs. He favored the organization of the Indian Ter- 
ritory, the opening of surplus lands to white settlement and the building of railroads, thus 
practically expatriating himself from the Cherokee Nation. When the Atlantic & Pacific 
(St. Louis & San Francisco) Railway was built to a junction with the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas, in 1872, he laid out the town of Vinita, which he named for Vinnie Ream, the 
sculptress. He continued to follow the practice of law, largely in the Federal courts at 
Fort Se ene in Washington, D. C., until his death which occurred at Fort Smith, Sep- 
tember 27, 1890. 


4. Senate Executive Document No. 20, 46th Congress, Ist Session, pp. 8-10. A copy of 
Colonel Boudinot’s letter appears in Appendix XL-l. 

5. Extract from Sedalia Daily Democrat, quoted in Senate Executive Document No. 20, 
46th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 10-11. 


a 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 511 


Indian Territory that were subject to homestead entry. Judge Sears went 
farther than Colonel Boudinot did, however, in suggesting that settlers might 
take forcible possession of such lands: 


These lands lie west of the five civilized tribes, so called, and their northern boundary is 
about ninety miles south of the Kansas line. These lands are among the richest in the world. 
Public attention is being called to them and my opinion is that, if Congress shall fail to make 
suitable provision for the opening of the Territory within a very short time, the people will take 
the matter into their own hands and go down there and occupy and cultivate those lands. 


If the announcement of Colonel Boudinot that there were millions of acres 
of public land available for white settlement in the Indian Territory had 
aroused a widespread interest, as admittedly it had, the hint of a popular 
movement for the occupation and settlement of such lands by squatters, with- 
out awaiting the sanction of lawful permission, had the effect of creating 
instant excitement. Three years before, the news of gold discoveries in the 
Black Hills had caused a rush in spite of the fact that the region was still a 
part of the country claimed by the Sioux Indians and, as the Government 
had given in to the gold hunters in that instance, it was argued that it would 
likewise have to bend to the popular clamor and make no effort to prevent the 
land hunters from making a similar rush into the Indian Territory. Within a 
few days the press was filled with reports and rumors of the invasion which 
was soon to take place from many quarters. “Colonies” were reported as 
being in the process of formation and organization at many places for the pur- 
pose of settling on the unoccupied public lands of the Indian Territory, and 
the name Oklahoma, which had long had a place in public documents asso- 
ciated with the proposed organization of the Indian Territory, suddenly 
assumed a place in popular interest. One “colony” was reported as being 
organized at Kansas City, under the auspices of one Colonel C. C. Carpenter, 
reputed to have been a leader of the rush into the Black Hills, three years 
before. Of him, John McNeil, an inspector in the Indian service, wrote from 
Coffeyville, Kansas, under date of May 4, as follows: 


Carpenter is here. He is the first man I met on my arrival. He is the same bragging, lying 
nuisance that I knew him seventeen years ago, when he infested Fremont’s quarters. He will 
not put his head in danger by entering the Territory. It is a pity that the law could not hold him 
as a conspirator against the public peace. I gave him a few words of caution about getting 
honest men into trouble; but a pair of handcuffs would be the only convincing argument with 
him. He came to Independence, some twenty miles from here, at the end of a little spur of the 
same railroad. The merchants agreed to give him five hundred dollars when his party came and 
a thousand dollars more when a thousand emigrants had been moved into the Territory by him. 
He could not satisfy the parties that he had a party at all; they refused the first installment and 
he left that place for this, saying that the Independence people had gone back on him. His wife 
is now operating on the merchants of this place in raising funds. The appearance of a squadron 
of United States cavalry would at once dry up this source of revenue.7 


The result of the excitement caused by the proposed settlement of lands 
in the Indian Territory was made manifest in the troop movements from 
various military posts in the territory and adjacent states to points along the 


6. Senate Executive Document, No. 20, 45th Congress, op. cit., Ist Session, p. 12. 
7. Ibid., p. 20. 


512 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


border where there was reason to believe that attempts might be made to 
enter the forbidden lands. Although the tract to which Colonel Boudinot and 
Judge Sears alluded was not very accurately described as to metes and 
bounds, it was evident that they had in mind that which was known as the 
Unassigned District, and it was toward that part of the Territory that most 
of the “colonies,” so-called, were planning to move. In a letter dated at the 
Sac and Fox Agency, April 30, 1879, Levi Woodward, United States Indian 
Agent, gave the following information concerning some of the immigrants 
who had succeeded in slipping past the military patrols and penetrating the 
heart of the Indian Territory: 


I have been hearing, for some time, rumor of arrangements for settling the Government 
lands in the Indian Territory, but have had nothing definite in regard to the matter until the 
28th, when four or five wagon-loads of men, women and children passed through this place 
destined to form a settlement on the head of Deep Fork, about forty-five or fifty miles west of 
Mexican Kickapoo Station, this agency; since which time about twenty wagons have passed, 
generally men. In view of the fact that this subject is assuming formidable and apparently 
large proportions, I deem it necessary to notify you of the facts, so that such action may be 
taken as the merits of the case demand. 

The present point for settlement for those who have passed through here is some nearer 
Cheyenne Agency than this place; but if the number that is now reported, and who have 
arranged and are arranging to come, do come, in less than a month they will be scattered over 
hundreds of miles, selecting the best portions for farms.8 


From the foregoing it would appear that the site of this, the first of the 
proposed settlements of which the-location is definitely known, must have 
been within a few miles of Oklahoma City. President Hayes issued a procla- 
mation warning all persons to desist from intruding on Indian lands, which 
term was construed to include all lands then embraced within the bounds of 
the Indian Territory. Detachments of troops were ordered to Wichita, Coffey- 
ville, Vinita and other points from which it was believed that possible incur- 
sions might be made. In most instances the officers in command reported 
that the newspaper reports of the numbers of intending immigrants had been 
greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, it was deemed wise to notify troops in 
garrison at stations in other military departments to hold themselves in 
readiness for transportation to the border of the Indian Territory on short 
notice.? In some places along the Kansas border there was sufficient excite- 
ment to lead some of the uninformed to rush across the boundary line and 
stake claims, regardless of whether the land was included in an Indian reser- 
vation or not; thus, the Quapaw Reservation—one of the oldest in the Ter- 
ritory—was covered with such selections, though there was not even the most 
remote possibility of its ever being thrown open to white settlement, even if 
the Unassigned Lands should be declared to be a part of the public domain.?°® 
There were, of course, many people who were interested and who would have 
been numbered among the intending settlers, but the publication of the Presi- 
dential proclamation deterred them from taking any active part in that 
direction. 


8. Ibid., p. 21. 
9. Ibid., pp. 28-31. 
10. Ibid., pp. 22-23. 


Peon, Hit 


CAPTAIN D. L. P. 


PORTRAIT AND PIONEER SCENE USED IN ADVERTISING 
CAPTAIN DAVID L. PAYNE’S OKLAHOMA COLONY 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 513 


Contrary to the popular belief, Captain David L. Payne had nothing what- 
ever to do with the earlier efforts to effect settlement in the Unassigned Dis- 
trict. In fact, Payne was reported to have returned to Wichita, Kansas, 
August 24, 1870, “after an absence of four years” at Washington, D. C., where 
he was reported to have been acting as an assistant door-keeper of the House 
of Representatives. Whether he was associated with Boudinot, while in 
Washington, is not known, but it is not improbable that he became interested 
in the project of effecting a settlement on the Unassigned Lands in the Indian 
Territory before he left Washington to return to the West. At any rate, he 
became actively engaged in promoting colonization enterprises for that pur- 
pose shortly after his return from Washington. 

The efforts to effect a settlement on the Unassigned Lands by forcible 
entry did not cease with the failure of the various “colonies” which attempted 
to locate in the forbidden area in the spring of 1879. It is not improbable that 
the ardor of the “boomers” (as the prospective settlers were commonly called) 
would have been materially dampened by the prompt and energetic action of 
the Federal authorities in having them removed by troops, if the movement 
had resulted wholly from individual initiative. The fact that the two power- 
ful railway corporations were directly interested in forcing the issue is not 
without its significance in this connection, however. Indeed, the persistence 
and regularity with which these first futile efforts were followed up during the 
course of the ensuing five years are suggestive of sources of inspiration more 
subtle and influences more powerful than the fleeting hopes and longings of a 
few land-hungry adventurers. Yet so well were the real sources of the move- 
ment concealed that, even after the lapse of half a century, the details of such 
a connection remain largely subject to conjecture. 

The ostensible leaders of the first colonization movements soon disappeared, 
their place being taken by David L. Payne, who, as previously stated, did not 
return to the West until after the first efforts to effect such settlements had 
failed.11_ Payne was peculiarly fitted for the active leadership of such a propa- 
ganda. By birth, association and experience he could qualify as a pioneer, 
yet at heart he was also a soldier of fortune. Outwardly frank and generous, 
he could easily play upon the credulity of the adventurous class which was 
attracted by the novelty of his scheme. Of robust and picturesque physique 
and possessed of a personality that was not lacking in magnetism among those 
of an adventurous disposition, he easily became a hero in the eyes of followers 
who believed him capable of martyrdom in a holy cause. With the cool cal- 
culation of a demagogue and the swagger of a knight errant, he combined the 
talent of an actor which enabled him to artfully play his part to the end. To 
just what extent he was backed by the interested railway corporations may 
never be known; it is quite possible that substantial assistance from such 
quarters was but temporary at best. But, whether he was in the pay of the 
railway companies or not, he always charged a membership fee for the privi- 


11. The sketch of the life and career of Captain David L. Payne will be found in 
Appendix XL-2, 


Okla—33 


514 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


lege of joining any of his projected colony organizations, and he also borrowed 
freely from some of his more well-to-do and over-trustful followers, who in the 
end found they had merely contributed to “the good of the cause.” He was 
also notoriously indifferent to the conventions of society in regard to domestic 
relations. Taken altogether, his character can scarcely be held up as a 
model for emulation. It may even be doubted whether he would have remained 
long in Oklahoma if he had succeeded in effecting a permanent settlement, as 
he had already used his homestead right twice only to drift on in search ‘of 
adventures which seemed to lure him away from the land. Yet, notwithstand- 
ing his obliquities and shortcomings, his success as an agitator made possible 
the opening of Oklahoma to white settlement much sooner than it would 
have been done otherwise and his picturesque career in that capacity was so 
unique as to insure him an indisputable right to a place in history. 

Learning that the settlers were again organized for the invasion of the 
Oklahoma country, President Hayes issued a second proclamation, February 
12, 1880, warning them to desist from such a purpose. Such warning procla- 
mations had but little effect upon the “boomers,” however. Captain Payne 
led a colony to the North Canadian River, in April, 1880, locating near the site 
of Oklahoma City.12 The colonists were arrested on May 15 by Lieutenant 
George H. G. Gale, in command of a detachment of the 4th United States 
Cavalry, and were taken to Fort Reno. Subsequently the prisoners were 
escorted to the Kansas border by troops under the command of Captain T. B. 
Robinson, 19th United States Infantry, where they were released June 7, 
1880. Payne returned to Oklahoma within a month (July 12), only to be 
again arrested (July 16) and, with a few of his leading associates, he was 
cited to appear before the Federal Court in Fort Smith at its November term 
and was then released without bond. 

During the autumn of 1880, Payne was very active in organizing a new 
colony for the purpose of settling in the Oklahoma country. The intending 
settlers assembled in camp at Caldwell, Kansas. The citizens of the Five 
Civilized Tribes sent a delegation to that place to visit Payne and his fol- 
lowers, in November, for the purpose of dissuading them from further efforts 
to effect a settlement in Oklahoma. Payne planned to move across the border 
into the Indian Territory on the 6th of November. The War Department 
caused a strong force of troops, under the command of Major George M. Ran- 
dall, to be posted on the line for the purpose of preventing the proposed inva- 
sion of the “boomers.” Hundreds of the latter were gathered in camp, many 
of them remaining all winter, closely watched by the soldiers, who also 
remained encamped close at hand. As the winter was one of exceptional 
severity, the colonists in camp suffered considerable hardship. 

Baffled as it was in its attempts to enter the Oklahoma country, Payne’s 
“colony” gradually dwindled in numbers. Payne’s activity was incessant, 
however. He never became discouraged, but seemed rather to be hopeful in 
spite of repeated failures. Some of his followers stood loyally by him and his 

12. Twenty years later, the excavation which was made for Payne’s log-walled dugout 


cabin was still pointed out on the edge of the river terrace near the present entrance to 
Wheeler Park, Oklahoma City. 


DRAWING AT EL RENO 


shaogo cee 


FERRY ON ARKANSAS RIVER, NEAR FORT GIBSON 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 515 


cause in the days of adversity. If he fretted at all it was not because of any 
hardship that had to be undergone, but rather because of his inability to have 
his contentions tested in the courts. The hearings of the charges against him 
were always postponed and finally dismissed. In order to force the issue, he 
brought suit in the United States District Court at Topeka, Kansas, in May, 
1881, against General John Pope, Department Commander of the United 
States Army at Fort Leavenworth, for damages on account of being forcibly 
removed from the territory. In this effort he was again frustrated by repeated 
postponements. General Pope was very bitter in his denunciation of Payne, 
as will be noted in an extract from his report to the adjutant-general of the 
Military Division of the Missouri.1% 

In the fall of 1881 Payne reorganized his colony in Northern Texas. Cross- 
ing the Red River into the Indian Territory in November, he encamped on 
Cache Creek. He was promptly expelled by troops of the regular army. At 
that time the Atlantic & Pacific (St. Louis & San Francisco) Railway Com- 
pany was reported to be considering the extension of its line from the (then) 
terminus at Vinita, in the Cherokee Nation, westward to New Mexico. 

Unable to secure any ruling from the Federal courts that would authori- 
tatively determine the status of the lands of the Unassigned District, Payne 
went to Washington, in July, 1882, to see the Secretary of the Interior. The 
Secretary (Henry M. Teller, of Colorado), gave Payne no satisfaction. Payne 
returned to the West, where he promptly organized a colony to move into the 
Oklahoma country. With his followers, he was arrested in the Territory, 
early in September, 1882, taken to Fort Reno, and thence, by way of Henri- 
etta, Texas, to Fort Smith, Arkansas. There he and several of his followers 
were served with summons to appear at the November term of the United 
States District Court. When they appeared for trial the case was continued, 
on motion of the district attorney. Payne returned to the Southern Kansas 
border and began to assemble his followers for another attempt to effect a 
settlement in Oklahoma. 

During the earlier stages of the movement for the settlement of the Unas- 
signed Lands, the attitude of the press was that of interest only insofar as its 
novelty afforded readable news stories. When the cattlemen of the Cherokee 
Outlet realized that the settlement of the Unassigned Lands would seriously 
endanger the tenure of their leases, they organized to make a common cause 
with the ranchmen of the district thus desired by the “boomers” to be opened 
for settlement and, from that time on, the range cattle interests were openly 
arrayed against any change in the status of the lands of the Indian Terri- 
tory. A liberal amount of advertising patronage was placed with the local 
papers which were published across the border in the southern tier of Kansas 
counties, and it could scarcely be counted a mere coincidence that, simultane- 
ously, there developed a bitterly adverse editorial opinion on the part of such 


13. Annual Report of the Secretary of War, 1882 (pp. 98, 99). The report of General 
John Pope in command of the Military Division of Missouri, with headquarters at Fort 
Leavenworth, contained an account of operations in Oklahoma against the intruders in the 
Indian Territory. His statements and recommendations will be found reproduced in 
Appendix XL-3. 


516 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


papers with regard to the proposed settlement of the Oklahoma country by 
the “boomers.” Eventually this hostile press propaganda was extended much 
farther in an endeavor to influence popular opinion against Payne and his 
colonization proposition, some metropolitan journals which were published at 
points hundreds of miles distant manifesting a viciously partisan interest in 
their editorial opposition to the movement for the opening of Oklahoma to 
settlement.14 Up to this time Payne had been without newspaper support, 
though he had once taken a printing plant into the Territory for the purpose 
of establishing such a journal, only to have the press, type and other material 
broken up and thrown into a river by the soldiers, who arrested and removed 
him and his followers as intruders. When his movement encountered the 
opposition of a subsidized press, however, it became apparent that it needed a 
journalistic organ of its own. This newspaper, which bore the name of the 
“Oklahoma War Chief,” issued its first number at Caldwell, Kansas, January 
12, 1883, with A. W. Harris as editor, and was avowedly the official organ of 
Payne’s Oklahoma colony. This unique periodical experienced as many vicis- 
situdes as did the organization and movement for the promotion of which it 
was established. Its publication office was changed at least half a dozen times 
from town to town along the border of the Indian Territory, in Southern Kan- 
sas, and its changes in editorial and business management were almost as 
numerous.!5 It was issued more or less regularly until August 12, 1886, when 
it was finally suspended. 

The beginning of the year 1883 found the Oklahoma movement stronger 
and better organized than ever before. Local camps or colonies were organ- 
ized and maintained at a number of places, including Caldwell, Arkansas City, 
Elk City, Wichita, Emporia, Kansas City and Fort Smith. On February 1, 
Payne started southward from the Kansas border at the head of what was 
perhaps the strongest expedition that had yet attempted to settle on the for- 
bidden lands in the Indian Territory. Six days later it arrived on the North 
Canadian River at or near the site of Oklahoma City. A party of 150 men 
came northward from Texas. Six wagons, filled with men from Arkansas, 
joined Payne on the North Canadian. A large party from Kansas City had 
reached the Cimarron when word was received that Payne and his followers 
had been arrested by a detachment of troops from Forts Reno and Sill, under 
the command of Captain Henry Carroll, of the 9th United States Cavalry. 
Payne and his leaders were taken to Fort Reno, while the rest were escorted 

14. The Globe-Democrat and Post-Dispatch, both of St. Louis, and the Topeka Com- 
monwealth, were among the larger and more influential newspapers which were noted as 
being especially abusive of Payne and his movements for the settlement of Oklahoma. The 


Chicago Inter-Ocean also took a long-range interest in the matter, exhibiting a degree of 
partisan hostility that was suggestive of the operation of undue infiuence. 


15. In the latter part of March, 1883, before the Oklahoma War Chief was three months 
old, its plant and publication office were moved to Geuda Springs. In April, 1884, it was 
moved to Arkansas City, with W. F. Gordon as editor. A few weeks later it was moved to 
Rock Falls, in the Cherokee Strip (four miles south of Hunnewell, Kansas), where it was 
published under the management of J. B. Cooper, until August, when the colony was 
removed by the troops, the press and material being taken to Fort Smith. The members 
of the colony raised money and purchased another press and outfit, with which the paper 
was reéstablished at South Haven, with Charles Branscome as editor. After the death of 
Payne the paper was moved to Arkansas City again, its new owner changing the name to 
the Oklahoma Chief. June 11, 1885, Smith & Son purchased it and moved it to Caldwell, 
where it was rechristened the Oklahoma War Chief, with Samuel Crocker as its editor. 


— = 


LIBRARY > 
epee ear THE: 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


516 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


papers with regard to the proposed settlement of the Oklahoma country by 
the “boomers.” Eventually this hostile press propaganda was extended much 
farther in an endeavor to influence popular opinion against Payne and his 
colonization proposition, some metropolitan journals which were published at 
points hundreds of miles distant manifesting a viciously partisan interest in 
their editorial opposition to the movement for the opening of Oklahoma to 
settlement.14 Up to this time Payne had been without newspaper support, 
though he had once taken a printing plant into the Territory for the purpose 
of establishing such a journal, only to have the press, type and other material 
broken up and thrown into a river by the soldiers, who arrested and removed 
him and his followers as intruders. When his movement encountered the 
opposition of a subsidized press, however, it became apparent that it needed a 
journalistic organ of its own. This newspaper, which bore the name of the 
“Oklahoma War Chief,” issued its first number at Caldwell, Kansas, January 
12, 1883, with A. W. Harris as editor, and was avowedly the official organ of 
Payne’s Oklahoma colony. This unique periodical experienced as many vicis- 
situdes as did the organization and movement for the promotion of which it 
was established. Its publication office was changed at least half a dozen times 
from town to town along the border of the Indian Territory, in Southern Kan- 
sas, and its changes in editorial and business management were almost as 
numerous.15 It was issued more or less regularly until August 12, 1886, when 
it was finally suspended. 

The beginning of the year 1883 found the Oklahoma movement stronger 
and better organized than ever before. Local camps or colonies were organ- 
ized and maintained at a number of places, including Caldwell, Arkansas City, 
Elk City, Wichita, Emporia, Kansas City and Fort Smith. On February 1, 
Payne started southward from the Kansas border at the head of what was 
perhaps the strongest expedition that had yet attempted to settle on the for- 
bidden lands in the Indian Territory. Six days later it arrived on the North 
Canadian River at or near the site of Oklahoma City. A party of 150 men 
came northward from Texas. Six wagons, filled with men from Arkansas, 
joined Payne on the North Canadian. A large party from Kansas City had 
reached the Cimarron when word was received that Payne and his followers 
had been arrested by a detachment of troops from Forts Reno and Sill, under 
the command of Captain Henry Carroll, of the 9th United States Cavalry. 
Payne and his leaders were taken to Fort Reno, while the rest were escorted 

14. The Globe-Democrat and Post-Dispatch, both of St. Louis, and the Topeka Com- 
monwealth, were among the larger and more influential newspapers which were noted as 
being especially abusive of Payne and his movements for the settlement of Oklahoma. The 


Chicago Inter-Ocean also took a long-range interest in the matter, exhibiting a degree of 
partisan hostility that was suggestive of the operation of undue influence. 


15. In the latter part of March, 1883, before the Oklahoma War Chief was three months 
old, its plant and publication office were moved to Geuda Springs. In April, 1884, it was 
moved to Arkansas City, with W. F. Gordon as editor. A few weeks later it was moved to 
Rock Falls, in the Cherokee Strip (four miles south of Hunnewell, Kansas), where it was 
published under the management of J. B. Cooper, until August, when the colony was 
removed by the troops, the press and material being taken to Fort Smith. The members 
of the colony raised money and purchased another press and outfit, with which the paper 
was reéstablished at South Haven, with Charles Branscome as editor. After the death of 
Payne the paper was moved to Arkansas City again, its new owner changing the name to 
the Oklahoma Chief. June 11, 1885, Smith & Son purchased it and moved it to Caldwell, 
where it was rechristened the Oklahoma War Chief, with Samuel Crocker as its editor. 


Gent t= LIBRARY...” 
Bes ea) or OF, THE: 7 
-- , ), UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


CAPTAIN WILLIAM L. COUCH 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 517 


to the Kansas line. It was estimated that there were about 900 invaders in all, 
though most of these had not reached the rendezvous on the North Canadian 
when the settlement was broken up by the arrival of the troops. 

In July, 1883, Payne applied to the United States District Court of Topeka, 
Kansas, for an injunction restraining the military authorities from interfering 
with the “colonists,” or “boomers,” in their attempts to settle in Oklahoma 
country. It seemed impossible to secure a hearing on this application. The 
next month (August 10) a party of 250 “boomers” left Arkansas City for 
Oklahoma. Payne was not with them but, a month later (September 12), he 
was arrested with three associates at Wichita, Kansas, under the charge of 
having conspired to violate the laws of the United States. Three weeks later 
they were formally indicted by a Federal Grand Jury. Meanwhile the appli- 
cation for an injunction to prevent the military authorities from interfering 
with the settlers in the Oklahoma country was repeatedly postponed on the 
motion of the United States District Attorney. 

After the second meeting of the Cherokee Strip cattlemen, which was held 
at Caldwell, Kansas, in March, 1882, the ranchmen who held leases on lands in 
the Outlet began to fence the same into large pastures. This was regarded as 
a very unfavorable sign by the “boomers,” who feared that the ranges of the 
Unassigned Lands might also be fenced. After the “boomers” were expelled 
from the Territory in the late summer of 1883, twenty-five miles of barbed 
wire fence, forming part of the enclosure of a big cattle pasture, which was 
leased and used by the Standard Oil Company, was cut and destroyed, pre- 
sumably by some of the “boomers” in retaliation for being driven out of the 
country. The Standard Oil Company appealed to the United States District 
Attorney for Kansas (James R. Hallowell), who informed the company’s rep- 
resentative that it had no recourse. The indictment which had been brought 
against Payne for conspiracy to violate the laws of the United States was 
quashed by Federal Judge Cassius G. Foster, on the ground that the title to 
the Oklahoma lands was vested in the United States and that, therefore, set- 
tlement upon the same by citizens of the United States was not a criminal 
offense. This was Payne’s first and only real victory before the courts. 

The Interior Department officials were apparently quite as bitter toward 
Payne and his followers as were the army officers. In February, 1883, H. 
Price, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, submitted a recommendation to the 
Secretary of the Interior that the freedmen of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and 
Cherokee nations, whose civic status had never been fixed by the legislative 
councils of those tribes, should be settled upon the lands of the Oklahoma Dis- 
trict, apparently in the belief that such course would have the effect of dis- 
posing of the “boomers” as well as provide a means of settling the problem 
of what to do with the freedmen.1*® 

On the other hand the “Oklahoma War Chief” manifested a spirit which 
was equally bitter and, moreover, it did not hesitate to resort to journalistic 
demagoguery in order to gain its point. It was always caustic and, either per- 

16. The attitude of the Indian Affairs Office with regard to Payne and the “boomers” 


may be fairly guaged from the extract from the annual report of the Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs for 1883, p. xxv, which is reproduced in Appendix XL-4. 


518 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


tinent or impertinent, depending upon the viewpoint of the writer, when it 
came to discussing the leases of ranchmen. In one instance it cited the names 
of seven lessors, alleging that they held lease on lands in the Oklahoma coun- 
try, when, as a matter of fact, their leases were in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
Reservation, and the proceeds from such leases were really paid to the 
Indians.1* 

The beginning of the year 1884 found the popular interest in the Oklahoma 
movement undiminished. Instead of going into the forbidden region in a 
body, the “boomers” went singly or in small parties. There were hundreds of 
settlers in Oklahoma all through the summer of that year. Military forces 
were active, but as fast as some of the settlers could be removed to the Kan- 
sas line and liberated, others came in from different directions. July 23 Presi- 
dent Arthur issued a proclamation forbidding the invasion of the Oklahoma 
country and warning all intruders to withdraw. The military authorities 
found it necessary to call for reinforcements. The course of procedure fol- 
lowed in removing the “boomers” was described by the “Oklahoma War Chief” 
as follows: 


The Secretary of the Interior complains to the President of the United States that “intrud- 
ers” and “trespassers” are settling on Indian lands. The President thereupon (without inquiry 
as to whether such alleged settlement be within the limits of a regularly established Indian 
reservation or merely on the unappropriated public domain) orders the Secretary of the Interior 
to use the army in removing the intruders. The latter telegraphs instructions to General Augur, 
in command of the Department at Fort Leavenworth, who immediately orders detachments of 
troops to the field to remove intruders. 

Cattlemen can pass unmolested, but settlers are all removed. Implements are destroyed, 
provisions confiscated, men sometimes temporarily placed under arrest, but never tried. 

No question was ever asked as to the propriety of such policy. The President relies implic- 
itly on representations of the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of War has no 
choice but to carry out instructions of constituted authority and so on down to negro troopers. 
The suffering settlers have no redress. 


Payne was arrested with seven of his most prominent followers on the 7th 
of August, at Rock Falls, four miles south of Hunnewell, Kansas, in the Cher- 
okee Outlet, and was taken to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was again 
released. He was then indicted for “conspiring against the United States by 
intruding on Indian lands.” ‘The feeling between the “boomers” and the cat- 
tlemen of the Cherokee Outlet became very bitter, the former openly charging 
that the latter were striving to manipulate local politics along the southern 
border of Kansas, as well as in Washington. Weary of the thankless task of 
seeking to apprehend the elusive “boomers,” the troops in the field, who were 
under the command of Colonel Edward Hatch, systematically intercepted 
supplies which were intended for the intruders, thus forcing the latter to leave 
the country or starve. Payne was engaged in organizing another colony for 
the invasion of the Oklahoma country when he died very suddenly at Welling- 
ton, Kansas, November 27, 1884. The Oklahoma movement was thus bereft 
of its tireless leader, but it was destined thenceforth to go on without him, for 


17. The quotation from the Oklahoma War Chief relative to ranchmen’s leases on the 
unoccupied public land alleged to be in Oklahoma, but actually on lands in the limits of 
the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian reservation, is to be found in Appendix XL-5. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 519 


it had gained such headway that it no longer depended upon the enthusiasm 
and organizing ability of one man. 

The forces which had been arrayed against the movement for the opening 
of the Oklahoma country to white settlement soon found that it would not end 
with the death of Payne. His followers were more numerous and determined 
than ever. Moreover, his long, patient and persistent struggle for the privi- 
lege of settling on the public lands which were not included within the limits 
of any Indian reservation had given a touch of pathos to the story of his death 
and, therefore, made a stronger appeal to the sympathies of people than ever. 
Under such circumstances it was not difficult to foresee that a popular demand 
for the opening of Oklahoma would soon follow. William L. Couch, who had 
been one of Payne’s most active lieutenants, was chosen to succeed him as the 
leader of the “boomers.” Couch took up the cause of the “boomers” with the 
same degree of earnestness and energy which had characterized the efforts of 
Payne.18 

Less than two weeks after the death of Payne (December 8, 1884), Couch 
left the Kansas line at the head of a large colony of “boomers.” Four days 
later (December 12) the party reached the valley of Stillwater Creek, where a 
town was laid out, claims were taken and the work of erecting cabins was 
begun. In January, 1885, President Arthur issued another proclamation, 
warning the intruding “boomers” to withdraw, and, immediately afterward, a 
small force of troops under the command of Lieutenant M. W. Day, 9th 
United States Cavalry, was ordered to drive the invaders from the Territory. 
Upon his arrival, Lieutenant Day reported that he had met with resistance, 
and that because of the superior number of the intruders, he had decided to 
await for reinforcements.19 General Edward Hatch was sent to the scene with 
strong reinforcements. Arriving on the Stillwater, January 24, with a force 
aggregating 600 officers and men and two pieces of artillery, General Hatch 
notified Couch that he would have to withdraw within two days and that, if 
he failed or refused to do so, the troops would be ordered to fire on the camps 
of the “boomers.” With such an alternative facing them, Couch and his fol- 
lowers very reluctantly broke camp and retired to the Kansas border without 
escort. The border was continuously patrolled by troops for the purpose of 
intercepting supplies intended for any settlers who might have eluded the 
vigilance of the military authorities by attempting to remain after the main 
body of the “boomers” had been driven out of the Territory.?° 

18. William L. Couch was born in North Carolina in 1850. In 1866 his father’s family 
migrated to Johnson County, Kansas, and, four years later, settled at the town of Douglas, 
in Butler County. In 1880 he became identified with Payne’s Oklahoma Colony, soon becom- 
ing recognized as one of its most active leaders. He was chosen to succeed Payne imme- 
diately after the death of the latter and continued to be a prominent figure in the agita- 
tion for the opening of Oklahoma until the movement succeeded. In April, 1889, he settled 
at Oklahoma City, of which he was the first mayor under the provisional government. He 
was shot during a dispute over a homestead claim at Oklahoma City, April 14, 1890, and 


died six days later. 


19. While awaiting reinforcements, Lieutenant Day’s command occupied a position 
across the Cimarron River, a few miles northeast of Guthrie. This encampment, known as 
Camp Russell, was garrisoned during the greater part of the winter of 1884-85 by four 
troops of cavalry and a company of infantry, Major T. B. Dewees, of the 9th Cavalry, 
commanding. Annual Report of the Secretary of War for 1885, pp. 155-56. 


20. According to the Oklahoma War Chief, General Hatch was the guest of honor ata 
banquet given by the cattlemen at Caldwell. 


520 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Soon after the return of the “boomers” to the Kansas line, Couch and 
twelve other leaders of the recent invasion were arrested on charge of treason 
against the United States and were taken to Wichita, where they were placed 
in jail. Despite the arrest and imprisonment of their leaders, however, the 
“boomers” were still active. Rumors of plans for fresh invasions were 
current. When the case against Couch and his associates came to a hearing 
in the United States District Court, a few weeks after their arrest and incar- 
ceration, General Hatch and the other prosecuting witnesses failed to appear, 
so the prisoners were discharged. 

The “boomers” had hoped for more friendly treatment at the hands of the 
incoming administration, but in this hope they were doomed to disappoint- 
ment. Very early in the administration of President Cleveland (March 13, 
1885), an executive proclamation was issued, declaring the lands of the Okla- 
homa country to be Indian lands and warning intending settlers to desist from 
intrusion. The disappointed “boomers,” who had hoped for the manifesta- 
tion of a more lenient policy by the new President and his advisors, met and 
adopted resolutions of protest in which they named the intruding cattle com- 
panies which were occupying ranges in the Oklahoma country. Up to this 
time the military authorities professed to be in ignorance of the presence of 
the cattlemen. Such a formal complaint on the part of the “boomers” could 
not be ignored, however, so the intruding cattle companies were duly warned 
as intruders and ordered to move out. It is not recorded that the cattlemen 
took the notification seriously, however. 

Shortly after the beginning of the Cleveland administration, Couch made a 
trip to Washington, where he interviewed the new Secretary of the Interior 
(L. Q. C. Lamar) in an endeavor to secure an expression as to the attitude of 
the new administration with regard to the “boomers” and their efforts to set- 
tle in the Oklahoma country. The following account of the interview was 
published shortly afterward :?1 

Secretary Lamar said: “What is your wish?” 

“I want to know what course the administration has determined to pursue with reference 
to Oklahoma and the settlers,” replied Couch. 

“Well, sir, I will state to you the policy of this administration with regard to the Oklahoma 
country,” said the secretary. “It considers the Oklahoma territory on which the persons you 
represent are preparing to make settlement as within and part of the Indian Territory. 
The administration regards it as not a part of the public domain open to entry and settlement 
and acquisition of titles under the land laws of the United States. Being Indian country, this 
territory is acquired and reserved for Indian occupancy. The Government is pledged to the 
protection of it and the security of the Indians from intruders. No white persons have the 
right to go there and reside without a permit, and when they do go they are intruders acting 
illegally and wrongfully. The policy of the President is to execute the pledge of the Govern- 
ment and to protect the Territory from the intrusion of white persons who claim that they 
have a right to enter upon it and that it was public domain subject to preémption and homestead 
settlement.” 

“Ts that the final decision?” asked Captain Couch. 

“Tt is and will be enforced,” said Mr. Lamar. 

In reply to a further question, Secretary Lamar said the administration was determined 
that the cattlemen on the Oklahoma reservation should leave. “They will not be permitted to 


ee their cattle within the limits of that territory.” He repeated the declaration with 
emphasis. 


21. Indian Chieftain (Vinita), April 16, 1885. 


SAMUEL CROCKER 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 521 


Charged with “seditious conspiracy and inciting insurrection,’ Samuel 
Crocker, editor of the Oklahoma War Chief, was arrested July 10, 1885, and 
confined in the Cowley County (Kansas) jail. After having been in prison for 
nearly a month, Crocker was released under bond to appear for trial, in the 
Federal Court, at Leavenworth, Kansas, October 12 following. When his case 
was called for trial it was dismissed by the prosecuting attorney.?? 

From the beginning of the movement to make settlement on the public 
lands of the Oklahoma country, Payne, Couch and all of the other leaders pro- 
fessed to believe that they were acting within their legal rights, and their 
endeavors to secure the opening of the Oklahoma country by legal means were 
incessant. Finding that there was to be no change of policy under the Cleve- 
land administration with respect to their claims, the “boomers” determined 
that the cattle companies should be brought to respect the law also. With this 
end in view they started a strong agitation against the illegal fencing of the 
public domain in the Oklahoma country. It proved to be a popular appeal and 
soon the pressure became so strong that President Cleveland issued a procla- 
mation (August 7, 1885), ordering that such fences be removed. This was a 
moral victory for the “boomers,” though in effect it was barren of results, for 
the cattle companies paid very little attention to it. 

The “boomers” made other organized efforts, under the leadership of 
Couch, to form a settlement in Oklahoma, in October, 1885, their objective 
being the fertile lands of the valley of the North Canadian, near Council 
Grove, a few miles west of the site of Oklahoma City. This party was removed 
by troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E. V. Sumner, 5th United 
States Cavalry, November 10, 1885. This was the last organized effort on the 
part of the “boomers” to effect a settlement in Oklahoma. The introduction 
of a bill in Congress for the legal opening of the public lands of the Indian 
Territory to settlement immediately after the beginning of the first session of 
the Forty-ninth Congress, a month later, convinced most of the “boomers” of 
the futility of further efforts to settle in Oklahoma without warrant of law 


22. Samuel Crocker was born in Devonshire, England, December 24, 1845. When he 
was a few months old his parents came to America, settling in Michigan, where he grew 
to manhood. Being of an independent disposition, he left home when quite young and 
made his own way in the world. He learned the printers’ trade and followed newspaper 
work. He had no education except that which he gained by close application to his books, 
without the aid of a preceptor. He devoted much of his life to literary work, published 
several books and entered the lecture field. He became interested in the Oklahoma move- 
ment in 1884, joined the “boomers” in the spring of 1885, and remained one of the most 
active agitators from that time until the Territory was opened to settlement, four years 
later. While editing the Oklahoma War Chief he was twice indicted—once for “seditious 
conspiracy” and once for “inciting rebellion against the United States Government’—pbut 
he was never tried on either charge. He was an active member of the legislative commit- 
tee which had the Oklahoma bill in charge at Washington throughout the session of Con- 
gress in the winter of 1888-89, and helped to secure its final passage as a rider to the 
Indian Appropriation Act. He was in Oklahoma on the opening day and remained a citizen 
ever afterward. He continued to take an active interest in public affairs, always a radical 
in his opinions and, as a rule, was always to be found espousing and championing the 
unpopular side of an issue which appealed to his sense of justice, with the same degree of 
earnestness that he supported the Oklahoma movement during the period between 1884 and 
1889. His death occurred in Oklahoma City December 17, 1921. During his last years he 
reduced his personal memoirs to writing, of which that part relating to Oklahoma has 
been transcribed and edited and constitutes a very interesting as well as important docu- 
ment for source material on that period of the State’s history. 


522 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


as well as encouraged them to believe that they would soon be free to move 
in and take possession of the coveted lands.?* 

By the terms of an Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1885, the President 
of the United States was authorized to negotiate with the Creek and Seminole 
nations for the final extinction of their title to the Unassigned Lands (or the 
Oklahoma country, as it had come to be popularly called) which were situated 
immediately west of the tribal domains of those Indian nations, and also with 
the Cherokee Nation for the purchase of the Cherokee Outlet, in order that 
the latter as well as the Unassigned Lands might be thrown open to white 
settlement. Thereupon, Dennis W. Bushyhead, as principal chief of the Chero- 
kee Nation, took the initiative in calling a convention or council to be com- 
posed of delegates from each of the Five Civilized Tribes, for the purpose of 
considering this important matter. This council, which was composed of 
twenty-five of the leading citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes, met at Eufaula, 
June 15, 1885, and, after mature deliberation, adopted resolutions protesting, 
there being but one dissenting vote. 

Colonel E. C. Boudinot, who was always radically progressive in his sup- 
port of the proposed opening of the unoccupied lands of the Indian Territory 
to white settlement, and always frank and unequivocal in the statement of his 
opinions concerning public affairs, gave his views concerning the proposed 
negotiations with the Creek and Seminole nations for the unconditional relin- 
quishment of the Unassigned Lands, in order that the latter might be opened 
to white settlement.*4 

In his annual report to the adjutant-general of the Military Division of 
Missouri for 1885, Brigadier-General Nelson A. Miles, commander of the 
Department of the Missouri (who had accompanied General Sheridan to the 
Territory, which was included in the limits of his own department a few 
months before), saw fit to make some observations and advisory recom- 
mendations.*5 

Shortly after the 49th Congress convened in December, 1885, a bill was 
introduced which had for its object the opening of the unoccupied public 
lands of the Indian Territory to settlement. This bill was prepared by former 
Representative Sidney Clarke, of Kansas, at the instance of Senator Charles 
H. Van Wyck, of Nebraska, and of Representative James B. Weaver, of Iowa, 
and William M. Springer, of Illinois. Thenceforth, the struggle for the right 
of settlement on the unoccupied public lands in the Indian Territory was 
transferred to the halls of Congress. 


No-Man’s-Land—That part of the lands ceded to the United States by 
Texas in 1850, which was bounded on the north by Kansas and Colorado, on 


23. The account of the military operations involved in apprehending and removing the 
intruding “boomers” from the Indian Territory between the years 1879 and 1885, inclusive, 
he given in considerable detail in Senate Executive Document No. 50, 48th Congress, 2d 

ession. 

24. Indian Chieftain (Vinita), July 16, 1885, contained Colonel Boudinot’s statement, 
which is reproduced in Appendix XL-6. 

; 25. Annual Report of the Secretary of War for 1885, Vol. I, pp. 153 and 154, contained 
in General Miles’ comments and recommendation, and with those of General Sheridan, will 
be found in Appendix XL-7. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 523 


the east by the Cherokee Outlet, on the south by the Texas Panhandle, and on 
the west by New Mexico, still remained unattached to any State or Territory. 
It continued to be a part of the wilderness of the Great Plains region until the 
virtual disappearance of the buffalo herds and the retirement of the Indians to 
their reservations about 1875, though a few cattle ranches had been estab- 
lished in the region of the upper Cimarron River, as early as 1869.76 

After 1875, when the big buffalo herds had disappeared and the Plains 
Indians had been forced to retire to reservations, the establishment of cattle 
ranches on the public lands of Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado and 
No-Man’s-Land led to the rapid development of the cattle industry throughout 
that portion of the Great Plains. In 1882-83, most of the ranches in the 
No-Man’s-Land country were purchased by two of the big British syndicates 
which thus gained control of the region until the removal of fences from Gov- 
ernment lands was ordered.27 In time, this strip of land, one hundred sixty- 
seven miles long and thirty-four miles wide, which was not included within 
the bounds of any state or territory, came to be known as No-Man’s-Land. 

In 1885-86 there was a heavy tide of immigration into Southwestern Kan- 
sas and Southeastern Colorado. Soon the settlers began to swarm across the 
line into No-Man’s-Land. In 1886, two coal mines were opened in the western 
part of the present Cimarron County, and a townsite, known as Mineral City, 
was laid out. Several towns were also projected in the eastern part of 
No-Man’s-Land. A trail, known as the Jones and Plummer trail, extended 
from Tascosa, located on the Canadian River in the western part of the Texas 
Panhandle, to Dodge City, was largely used by Texas ranchmen in driving 
herds to Dodge City for shipment to Kansas City and Chicago packing houses. 
In 1879, a freighter on this trail erected a sod building and opened a store at 
the point where this trail crossed Beaver Creek, in the present Beaver County. 
After the settlers began to locate in No-Man’s-Land it was but natural that 
there should be some townsites located and surveyed. Among these the town 
of Beaver City was located on the site upon which the freighter had built the 
sod store building seven years before. 

Meanwhile, immigrants had continued to arrive until, in the spring of 1887, 
it was estimated that No-Man’s-Land contained a population of about 6,000. 
There were no Government land offices, so there could be no absolute owner- 
ship of lands. The settlers were also without law, either local or national. As 


26. In 1832, the New Arkansas and Texas Land Company entered into a contract with 
the State of Coahuila and Texas on the one part and Doctor John C. Beales and Jose Man- 
uel Roquella on the other. This contract called for a land grant north of the 32d degree 
of north latitude and west of the 102d meridian of west longitude. The surveying party 
that worked in this territory told interesting things experienced at the time. This work 
took them into the No-Man’s-Land country, a part of which was included in the grant. 
Professor Morris L. Wardell, of the University of Oklahoma, contributed a paper which 
was published in Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. I, No. 1, in which the field notes of the 
surveying party were reproduced, pages 70 to 75, inclusive, with map. Wilson and Exeter 
had a grant made about the same time, including nearly all of the north half of the present 
Cimarron County and the northern and northwestern parts of Texas County. The Chambers 
grant, also made about the same time, included all that part of Texas County lying south 
of the Wilson and Exeter grant. The Dominguez grant, made also about the same time, 
included all of the present Beaver County. 


7 ae Information secured from the late John Skelly, who resided in Cimarron County at 
e time. 


524 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


a class, they were peaceable and orderly but, as a land without law always has 
its attractions for turbulent and unruly spirits, so desperadoes and horse 
thieves soon made trouble in the No-Man’s-Land settlements. The people 
promptly organized vigilance committees and put such a check on the outlaw 
class that a measure of order was restored. In No-Man’s-Land, as elsewhere, 
when the people had to take the law into their own hands, the measures 
resorted to were sometimes harsh, but when evil doers had no respect for the 
rights of others, it was necessary to fill them with terror. 

As early as 1882, W. A. Starr, of Oswego, Kansas, obtained from the 
Department of the Interior a statement to the effect that the public lands of 
this district were subject to squatters’ rights—that is, that any citizen was at 
liberty to select and settle upon a given tract of land which he would be 
entitled to hold against all comers or rival claimants, but to which he could 
not secure a fee simple title until such lands should be included within the 
limits of some organized Territory or State. Three years later, Secretary of 
the Interior, L. Q. C. Lamar, confirmed this earlier decision.28 Thereafter, 
though settlers could not file on homesteads as such, and though no Govern- 
ment land office held jurisdiction over any of the public lands of the 
No-Man’s-Land country, the settlers were supposed to hold their claims by 
general consent and good faith between the people of any given community. 
However, the means of gaining a livelihood under such conditions were very 
limited and some of the settlers had to absent themselves from their claims for 
the purpose of securing employment. There were also some disputes over 
claims between settlers who were acting in good faith. Worse than this, 
however, was the fact that some persons of the lawless element made a regular 
business of “jumping” claims of absent settlers. Such a condition was, of 
course, intolerable. Finally a meeting was called to be held at Beaver City, on 
October 26, 1886, for the purpose of discussing the situation and devising 
ways and means for an orderly adjustment of differences and disputes among 
rival claimants. At this meeting a resolution or agreement was drawn up, 
providing for the appointment, organization and operation of a “Claimant’s 
Board.” This brief, terse, compact was the first manifestation of the spirit of 
democracy and self-government on the part of the settlers in this unorganized 
wilderness.29 Another meeting was called shortly afterward to be held 
November 9, for the avowed purpose of preparing “a code of by-laws for our 
future adoption” and also to “prepare a form of quit-claim deed for our com- 
mon use in the transfer of claims from one party to another.” This meeting 
was held in a sod schoolhouse which had been erected at Beaver City by popu- 
lar subscription. The work of this second convention laid the foundation for 
the attempt to organize a new commonwealth, which it was proposed to name 
Cimarron Territory.?° 


28. Information furnished by the late Thomas P. Braidwood, of Beaver. 
29. The “Claim’s Board” rules will be found reproduced, in part, in Appendix XL-8. 

_ 380. The elective delegates subscribed to the following obligation: ‘We, the under- 
signed, members of the Territorial Council of Cimarron County and officers of the same, do 
hereby solemnly swear that we will support the Constitution of the United States, and 
faithfully execute and enforce the laws of the United States, and also the laws adopted by 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 525 


As many of the settlers in No-Man’s-Land had already been in favor of an 
attempt to organize a territorial government and thus supercede the make- 
shift “Vigilance Committee,’ and “Claim Board” organizations, the election 
which had been called for in the resolutions of the Convention of November 
9, was held February 22, 1887. The nine delegates thus chosen assembled in 
the sod schoolhouse at Beaver City on March 4 and organized as a first legis- 
lative body of Cimarron Territory.*! 

One of the first acts of this delegated assembly was to divide No-Man’s- 
Land into five counties, named, respectively: Benton, Beaver, Palo Duro, 
Optima and Sunset, and also for a general election to be held the first Tuesday 
after the first Monday in November, for the purpose of choosing nine Senators 
and fourteen Delegates to meet as a legislative assembly on the first Monday 
in the following December. The members then in session voted to constitute 
themselves a legislative body and proceeded to enact numerous statute laws, 
such as a regulation of marriage, the imposition of taxes, the foreclosing of 
chattel mortgages, the organization of corporations, etc. The laws of Colo- 
rado were adopted as covering all points of statute law not included in those 
thus specifically adopted. 

Of course not all of this could happen without some differences of opinion 
and some open disagreements, with the result that Cimarron Territory soon 
had two full-fledged political factions which, however, were based on local 
issues and not on national party lines. The respective leaders of these two 
parties were Orville G. Chase, an immigrant from New York, and Rev. R. M. 
Overstreet, who had long been prominent as a Presbyterian minister in Kan- 
sas. Chase, who was president of the Legislative Assembly, at Beaver, was 
placed in nomination for delegate to Congress, when it had been originally 
understood that Overstreet should be sent as delegate to Congress if Chase 
was made president of the legislative organization. Overstreet called an 
opposing convention which met at Rothwell, a rival town of Beaver City. 
The convention tied on the nomination of J. G. Snode and J. E. Dale, each 
receiving twenty ballots. With three candidates in the field, the struggle in 
the election was between Dale, candidate of the Overstreet party, and Chase, 
who had the support of his own legislative organization. In the election it 
was alleged that there were some inaccuracies in the count, to say nothing of 
official manipulations, with the result that both Chase and Dale went to Wash- 
ington, each asking to be recognized as the legally elected representative of an 
organized territory ;3?. whereas, either would have probably been recognized 
had it not been for the presence and active opposition of the other.** 


the Cimarron Territorial Council for the government of said Cimarron Territory, to the 
best of our ability. 

“(Signed) O. G. Chase, president; Merritt Magann, clerk; R. M. Overstreet, J. G. Snode, 
James Lane, Robert A. Allen, Elmer Thomkins, Thomas Walters, W. J. Kline.” 


31. Part of the resolutions of the convention held at Beaver on November 8, which are 
reproduced in Appendix XL-9. 


32. Chase was on the ground first and he had the advantage of presenting a certificate 
of election which was adorned by the impress of the great seal of the Territory of Cimar- 
ron. Years afterward this seal was sent to the Oklahoma Historical Society, but the gen- 
tleman who was charged with its delivery forgot it when he left the train at Oklahoma 
City, and it was lost. 

33. Both Chase and Dale spent much of the winter in Washington, and each presented 
an appeal for recognition. Chase’s appeal was printed in full in the Congressional Record, 
House Journal, December 12, 1887 (Congressional Record, Vol. XIX, Part I, p. 38). 


526 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


The second Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Cimarron was in ses- 
sion most of the time during the winter of 1887-88.34 In the spring of 1888, 
the opposition to the Oklahoma bill (which was being pressed for action), 
made a desperate effort to have the No-Man’s-Land country annexed to Kan- 
sas, hoping thus to cripple the Oklahoma movement, but the attempt failed. 
The Beaver legislative party, anticipating the passage of the Burns bill for 
the organization of the Territory of Cimarron, proceeded to hold another elec- 
tion in November, 1888, at which a full complement of territorial officers were 
chosen and also a new delegate to Congress. The whole contention was due 
to the activities of the promoters of the rival townsites of Beaver and Roth- 
well and to the machinations of ambitious politicians. During the summer of 
1888, several men were killed in No-Man’s-Land as a result of a county seat 
war, across the line in Stevens County, Kansas. This event served to 
strengthen the popular demand for local civil government. 


34. On January 25, Representative William M. Springer, of Illinois, presented a memo- 
rial of the citizens of ‘the Territorial Council representing the settlers of what is called 
the Public Land Strip, praying for the organization of the Territory of Cimarron.” Mr. 
Springer asked that it be referred to the Committee on Territories, and asked that it be 
printed, which was done. The same day both Dale and Chase filed petitions with the 
House of Representatives in support of their respective claims for recognition as delegates 
from the Territory of Cimarron. (Ibid., pp 718 and 725.) 


CHAPTER XLI 


_ THE OKLAHOMA QUESTION IN CONGRESS 


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CHAPTER XLI. 
THE OKLAHOMA QUESTION IN CONGRESS. 


When the Oklahoma question appeared in Congress as a result of a popu- 
lar demand, instead of appearing merely as a railroad land grant measure, at 
the beginning of the last session of the Forty-eighth Congress, it was intro- 
duced in the interest of homestead settlement and in such behalf it was there 
to stay until it could be settled for all time. Early in the first session of the 
Forty-ninth Congress, several bills for the organization of Oklahoma Terri- 
tory were introduced. One of these was by Representative Richard W. 
Townshend of Illinois (H. R. 315) and another by General James B. Weaver 
of lowa (H. R. 584). A similar bill was also introduced in the Senate by 
Senator Charles H. Van Wyck of Nebraska. The two house bills after being 
considered by the Committee on Territories, were replaced by a substitute 
bill (H. R. 7217), which was reported on April 15, 1886, with a favorable 
recommendation for its passage. It was debated on May 1I,? and again on 
June 3.2 The debate did not proceed further and the bill was lost for lack of 
complete consideration. 

The opposition to this measure was strongly entrenched, hence its failure 
to make headway in Congress. This opposition to the opening of the vacant 
public lands of Oklahoma to settlement came principally from two sources, 
namely, the cattlemen who had large herds of stock in the territory and were 
loath to give up their ranges, and the Indians, who naturally regarded the 
proposed change as the beginning of an invasion which would ultimately 
result in changing the old order, whereas, they preferred to live on in their 
own way and to cling to their own institutions. The live stock interests 
claimed to have maintained no lobby in Washington for the purpose of influ- 
encing legislation* but, on the other hand, it was openly charged (and never 
successfully refuted) that a number of senators and representatives were 
interested in some of the cattle companies which held memberships in the 
Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association.® 


1. Congressional Record, Vol. XVIII, p. 3514, 
2. Ibid., pp. 4063 to 4071. 
3. Ibid., pp. 5214 to 5220. 


4. A memorial addressed to the President of the United States, November 27, 1889, by 
the members of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, contained the following state- 
ment in this regard: 

“Although bitterly attacked by a hostile portion of the newspaper press, and by some 
members of Congress, we have at no time had any agent, lobby or influence at the seat of 
government, seeking to influence legislation. The nature of our pursuits and the char- 
acter and disposition of our people have disqualified us from responding to the defamations 
and calumnies which seem well nigh to have convinced the public mind that the individual 
who has, or has had, an interest in cattle on the range, is little better than a highwayman 
and a bandit and is worthy of penal reprobation.’’—Printed copy of memorial, p. 15. 


5. As an instance of the spirit of accord between the cattlemen and some of the leaders 
in Congress, even before the organization of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, the 
following extract copy of a letter, dated at Washington, District of Columbia, January 19, 
1883, from United States Senator Preston B. Plumb, of Kansas, to B®. M. Hewins, who was 
shortly afterward chosen a director of the association under its articles of incorporation, 
bears evidence: 


Okla—34 


530 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


When the Fiftieth Congress convened, in December, 1887, the Oklahoma 
measure was again introduced and, as before, was championed by its old 
friends, Weaver and Springer, together with Representative Charles H. 
Mansur, of Missouri. During the winter and the early part of the following 
spring, the Oklahoma Bill occupied a great deal of attention in Congress. Its 
friends were no more determined than its enemies, however, the latter being 
aided by strong lobbying forces. On the 26th of April, 1888, the opponents of 
the Oklahoma Bill made a determined effort to have the so-called No-Man’s- 
Land attached to Kansas, hoping thus to cripple the Oklahoma movement, 
but the attempt resulted in failure. 

On January 6, 1888, Representative Springer introduced a bill (H. R. 
1277) providing for the opening of certain lands then included in the Indian 
Territory to homestead settlement,® and also for the organization of a Terri- 
tory of Oklahoma. The first debate on the Springer bill occurred on February 
25.7 On February 28 it was again debated at length. Several more extended 
debates followed at intervals. Two other Oklahoma bills had been introduced, 
respectively on the same day, by Representatives Townshend (H. R. 1285) 
and Weaver (H. R. 1350). Neither of these was brought up for considera- 
tion, however. The same day, Representative Bishop W. Perkins, of Kansas, 
introduced a bill (H. R. 1397), to provide for the opening of certain lands in 
the Indian Territory (7. e., the Oklahoma lands) to homestead settlement. 

While the Oklahoma movement was being debated and made the subject 
of a legislative struggle in the halls of Congress, both the proponents and 
opponents of the proposed Oklahoma bill were very active. The Congres- 
sional Record reveals the fact that there were many supporting petitions and 
numerous protests against the proposed passage of the bill, which were sent 
to Washington, where they were referred to the Committee on Territories. 
Though the movement to effect a settlement in Oklahoma by “boomers” had 
ended more than two years before, its leaders realized that popular interest 
should be kept alive. Consequently, during the midwinter session, in the fore- 
part of 1888, Messrs, Couch, Crocker and Sidney Clark, enlisted the aid of 
Doctor Morrison Munford, of the Kansas City “Times,” and of Colonel Rob- 
ert T. Van Horn, of the Kansas City “Journal,” in arranging for a mass con- 
vention to which representatives should be invited from several states of the 
West and Southwest, for the purpose of stimulating popular interest in the 
regions immediately contiguous to the Indian Territory, and also for the 


“Yesterday the Secretary [of the Interior] wrote a letter to the President, strongly 
recommending that the Government buy the entire Cherokee Strip. The President will 
transmit this to Congress in a day or two. Of course, if the Government buys the land, it 
will be covered with squatters within two months and the cattlemen will have to leave. 
Of course, also, I cannot help but take the settlers’ side when they find the land is that of 
the Government. But, on account of my friendship for you, Titus, Hamilton and others, I 
feel that I ought to let you know what is going on. Please say nothing about this to any 
one until you have thought it all over and have written to me. I shall be glad to aid you, 
in all proper ways, of course. Talk with Hood also about it if you think best.’—From a 
letter contained in the correspondence of the late Charles H. Eldred, a director of the 
Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association. 


6. Congressional Record, Vol. XIX, p. 209. 
7. Ibid., pp. 1472-77. 

8. Ibid., pp. 1557-64. 

Se Ibid praia: 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 531 


purpose of making a demonstration that would tend to convince Congress 
that there was a strong sentiment behind the movement, in addition to the 
“boomer” organization, which, unaided, had kept up the fight so long. The 
result was the calling of an Inter-State Oklahoma Convention. This gather- 
ing which was largely attended, convened in Kansas City, February 8, 1888. 
Governor A. P. Morehouse, of Missouri, was chairman of the convention. The 
general tenor of the delegates in attendance was that of optimism, and the 
result of the convention was an enthusiastic endorsement of the proposed 
opening of the Unassigned Lands to homestead settlement. 

The convention voted to select a legislative committee of nineteen mem- 
bers for the purpose of presenting a memorial to President Cleveland and 
urging upon Congress the enactment of immediate legislation for the open- 
ing of the Oklahoma lands to homestead settlement. Captain Couch, Sidney 
Clark and Samuel Crocker, Doctor Munford, Colonel Van Horn and others 
of less note, were selected to leave for Washington five days later. The story 
of the activities of this delegation has been preserved to posterity in the 
manuscript memoirs of Samuel Crocker.’° 

On June 25, 1888, Mr. Springer introduced a revised measure, (H. R. 
10614), which was referred to the Committee on Territories and ordered to 
be printed.44,. On June 11, Mr. Springer, for the Committee on Territories, 
reported a favorable recommendation for the passage of this latest bill to 
organize the Territory of Oklahoma. This measure came up for debate on 
July 26.17, Extensive debates were also held on August 26, August 28, August 
29 and August 30, but no action was taken before the end of this session, 
which was one of the longest on record. 

In the autumn of 1888, realizing that it was necessary to keep local inter- 
est spurred up to the point where there should be no flagging zeal, Samuel 
Crocker secured the codperation of M. M. Murdock and his Wichita “Daily 
Eagle” in promoting another Inter-State Oklahoma convention to be held 
at Wichita, November 20, 1888. The popular interest was thus renewed and 
kept at a white heat up to the time that Congress was to convene. Many 
towns in Southwestern Kansas sent picked delegations to attend this meet- 
ing, while Texas, Missouri, Arkansas and other western and southwestern 
states were well represented. Samuel Crocker rendered a report of his stew- 
ardship as a representative of the Oklahoma movement at Washington dur- 
ing the preceding Congressional session. General Weaver, of Iowa, Repre- 
sentative Springer, of Illinois, and Representative Mansur, of Missouri, and 
most of the members of the Kansas Congressional delegation, together with 
several congressmen from other states, were present either as participants or 
* as interested spectators.1® The convention was distinguished for its enthusi- 
asm. Captain Couch, Sidney Clarke and Samuel Crocker were then selected 


10. Information secured from manuscript copy of personal memoirs of the late Samuel 
Crocker. Crocker’s account of this visit to Washington is reproduced in Appendix XLI-1. 

11. Ibid., p. 5540. 

12. Ibid., pp. 6869-80. 

13. Immediately after the Wichita Inter-State Oklahoma Convention, Captain Couch, 
Sidney Clark and Samuel Crocker left for Washington to be there when Congress opened 
on the first Monday in December, 


532 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


to go to Washington, to insistently urge the passage of the Oklahoma Bill 
before the end of the forthcoming short session of Congress.1!4 

The Springer Bill was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote 
of 148 to 102, February 1, 1889.15 In the Senate it was debated and referred 
to the Committee on Territories, which submitted a favorable recommenda- 
tion, without amendment, February 18, 1889.1° One week later, Senator 
Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, tried to have it called up for consideration 
but was unsuccessful on account of other measures which had precedence 
over it.17 Saturday, March 2, arrived and no further progress had been 
made. Inaction probably suited the opposition to the Oklahoma Bill better 
than negative action, since it did not put them on record. Strenuous efforts 
were made to bring it up for consideration in the Senate, but the Senate 
leaders pleaded an overcrowded calendar as an excuse for not allowing the 
bill to come up for consideration. Finally the end of this, the last, session of 
the Fiftieth Congress, drew so near that all hope of having the measure 
brought up for consideration by the Senate had expired. 

Although it looked as if the bill was doomed to failure, its leaders and 
backers were not lacking in resourcefulness at this critical juncture. Assured 
of the friendship of a strong majority in the House, they naturally turned to 
that body in their extremity. After a hasty consultation, it was decided to 
resort to an expedient to force legislation for the opening of the Unassigned 
Lands to homestead settlement. To this end they formulated an amend- 
ment to the Indian Appropriation Bill (which had not yet passed the House), 
such amendment to provide for the opening to settlement of the lands ceded 
or to be ceded by the Creek and Seminole nations, under rules and regula- 
tions to be prescribed by the Interior Department, together with several other 
clauses, providing, among other things for the creation of a commission to 
treat for the relinquishment of surplus lands belonging to other Indian tribes. 

This decision was reached so late in the session that it called for very 
quick work in order to get such an amendment printed in time to have it con- 
sidered in the final action on the Indian Appropriation Bill.18 The purpose 
of this expedient was to force favorable action at the hands of the unwilling 
Senate, which was largely dominated by interests that were bitterly opposed 
to the opening of Oklahoma. No effort was made to provide for the organiza- 
tion of the proposed new territory, or even to include the name of Oklahoma, 
for the reason that the bill seemed to be already overloaded, and that an 
effort to include all the items of an organic act might endanger the final pass- 
age and approval of the measure. The Senate strongly objected to this course 
of procedure, but in the end it was forced to accede or see the Indian Appro- 


14. Crocker’s manuscript reminiscences. 

15. Congressional Record, Vol. XX, pp. 1400-02. 

16. Ibid., p. 2010. 

17. Ibid., p. 2287. 

18. It is worthy of remark that the ready resourcefulness and quick action of Samuel 
Crocker probably saved the day for the timely introduction of the Oklahoma amendment, 
or “rider,” to the Indian Appropriation Bill, by securing the production of a sufficient num- 
ber of printed copies thereof in record-breaking time. Crocker’s narrative of the incident 
is reproduced in Appendix XLI-1, to which previous reference has been made. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 533 


priation Bill fail of enactment. The bill, thus passed, received executive 
approval during the closing hours of President Cleveland’s administration.1® 

The amendment to the Indian Appropriation Bill, briefly stated, provided 
that the unoccupied lands of the tracts ceded to the Government by the 
Creek and Seminole nations should thenceforth be regarded as a part of the 
public domain of the United States and, as such, be subject to homestead 
entry from and after a date to be set by an executive proclamation which 
should prescribe needed rules and regulations to cover possible contingencies. 

There was rejoicing all along the Indian Territory border and especially 
among the people who had kept up the agitation for the opening of the 
Oklahoma lands to settlement, in season and out of season, and in spite of 
every handicap and discouragement, throughout a period which had lasted 
nearly a full decade. There were bonfires and jollifications. Incidentally, 
many people who had never been concerned as to the outcome of the effort 
suddenly became interested, since it gave to them an opportunity for personal 
benefit that was at least equal with that of the long-suffering “boomer” agi- 
tators. 


Interested Opposition—Definite data as to the identity and number of 
alleged representatives of the range cattle interests who were in Washington 
for the purpose of opposing the passage and approval of the measure to open 
Oklahoma to settlement, during the last session of the soth Congress 
seems to be lacking. None of those who were striving to secure the enact- 
ment of such legislation have doubted their presence, their activity or their 
influence, however, though it is possible that, if such influence was exerted 
at all, it was done indirectly, through the medium of personally interested 
representatives and senators. 

During the winter of 1888-89 the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes were 
represented at Washington by delegations which included some of their 
ablest men and leaders. While it is probable that some of them realized that 
it would be impossible to do more than postpone the final passage of the 
bill providing for the opening of the Unassigned Lands to white settlement 
under the homestead laws, yet they nevertheless kept up an active and effec- 
tive opposition until it became apparent that further effort in that line was 
useless. The Indian delegation included Colonel George W. Harkins, (Choc- 
taw but representing Chickasaws); W. P. Boudinot, Cherokee (nephew of 
Stand Watie); L. B. Bell (“Hooly”), (Cherokee) ; Isparhechar and Colonel 
G. W. Grayson (Creeks) ; Judge B. W. Carter (Cherokee-Chickasaw) ; Sena- 
tor George Sanders (“Soggy”), and Stan W. Gray (Cherokees) ; Campbell Le- 
Flore (Choctaw), and Sam Paul (Chickasaw).?° 


A Federal Court in the Indian Territory—As already stated in addition 
to passing the Indian Appropriation bill with the provision for the Oklahoma 
land opening as an amendment, provision was also made in the appropriation 
for the Department of Justice, for the establishment of a Federal Court in the 


19. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 25, p. 1005. 

20. Vinita Indian Chieftain published an account of some of the activities of delegates 
from the Five Civilized Tribes who were in Washington during the last session of the 50th 
Congress. See Appendix XLI-2. 


534 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Indian Territory.21 Thus, nearly twenty-three years after the negotiation of 
the treaties of 1866, by the terms of some of which the creation and main- 
tenance of such a tribunal had been promised, the people of the Indian 
Territory could at last have access to a Federal Court without the necessity 
of going into a neighboring state. The seat of the new court was fixed at 
Muskogee and provisions were made for the appointment of a judge, prose- 
cuting attorney, marshal and other necessary officers and employees. The 
criminal jurisdiction of the new court was limited to such offenses as were 
not punishable by death or imprisonment, all cases of that character, as 
theretofore, to be tried at Fort Smith, or Paris. 

The act provided that the court should have jurisdiction in all civil cases 
between citizens of the United States who were residents of the Indian 
Territory, or between citizens of the United States who are residents of any 
state or territory therein, or any person’ or persons residing or found in the 
Indian Territory, and when the value of the thing in controversy, or dam- 
ages or money claimed, should amount to $100. 

The code of the State of Arkansas was to be adopted, as far as practicable, 
as to practice, pleading, forms, etc. In cases wherein the amount in contro- 
versy was equal to $1,000, appeal might be taken to the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Two terms of court were to be held each year, beginning 
respectively on the first Mondays of May and November. 

It was provided that all proceedings of the court should be had in the 
English language; that bona fide male residents of the Indian Territory, over 
twenty-one years old and understanding the English language sufficiently 
to comprehend the proceedings of the court, should be competent to serve as 
jurors but subject to exemptions and challenges as provided by law in regard 
to jurors in the Western District of Arkansas. 


Indian Land Cession and the Opening Proclamation—The Creek and 
Seminole nations, which had formerly held a fee simple title to the Unas- 
signed Lands and to those of that part of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reser- 
vation situated north of the Canadian River, had ceded the same to the 
Government by the terms of their respective treaties, entered into in 1866, 
for the express purpose of locating other tribes of friendly Indians thereon. 
Before the Unassigned Lands were thrown open to white settlement, there- 
fore, it was very desirable to secure the consent of the Creek and Seminole 
nations to the proposed opening, in the form of a full, complete and unquali- 
fied transfer of title to the United States. The act of March 3, 1885,22 under 
the terms of which the President of the United States had been authorized 
to appoint a commission to negotiate such an agreement with the Creek and 
Seminole nations (as well as with the Cherokee Nation for the cession of its 
lands lying west of the 96th meridian), had evidently been formulated and 
passed in the belief that the people of those tribes had not merely a claim on 
the lands (which they had ceded under pressure for a special purpose and at 
a price that was a pittance) but that they also still held an equitable interest 


21. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 25, pp. 783-87. 
22. Congressional Record, Vol. XVI, pp. 898-905. Also, U. S. Statutes at Large, 23, p. 384. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 535 


in the same, at least until such time as they might execute an unqualified 
relinquishment of their fee simple title thereto. 

Negotiations, for the purpose of extinguishing the claims of the Creek and 
Seminole nations to ownership of all lands in the Indian Territory west of 
their diminished domains as defined by the treaties of 1866, were carried 
on in Washington City during the last session of the Fiftieth Congress. An 
agreement was reached with the duly authorized delegates of the Creek 
Nation, January 19, 1889, whereby the Government was to pay to the Creek 
Nation the sum of $2,280,857.10, which, added to the sums paid to the Creek 
Nation under the provisions of the Creek Treaty of 1866 and by Indian tribes 
which had been subsequently located upon tracts included in the ceded area, 
would equal a total of $1.25 per acre. Twelve days after the conclusion of 
this agreement (January 31) it was ratified by act of the Creek Council. 
President Cleveland laid the matter-before Congress in a special message, 
dated February 5, 1889. It was ratified by act of Congress and approved 
March 1, 1889.78 

At the time of the passage and approval of the Indian Appropriation Bill, 
in the closing hours of the Fiftieth Congress, no agreement had been reached 
with the Seminole Nation relative to such a final and full relinquishment of 
its claim to the lands lying west of the Seminole boundary, between the 
North and South Canadian rivers. However, section 12 of that act provided 
for the appropriation of $1,912,952.02 to pay the Seminole Nation in full for 
all of its rights, title and interest in such lands,?4 that sum representing the 
difference between the value of the tract in question at $1.25 per acre and the 
sums previously paid to the Seminole Nation in accordance with the terms of 
the Treaty of 1866 and by, or in behalf of, Indian tribes which were subse- 
quently settled thereon. 

On March 16, 1889, just two weeks after the passage and approval of the 
Indian Appropriation Act, with its amendment for the opening of the Okla- 
homa lands for white settlement, the duly authorized delegates of the Semi- 
nole Nation entered into an agreement whereby the desired release and con- 
veyance was executed and the title to the lands in question was formally 
transferred to the United States. This removed the last obstacle to the opening 
of the Unassigned Lands to settlement under the homestead laws. One week 
later (March 23) President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation, form- 
ally announcing and declaring that, at and after the hour of noon, on the 22d 
day of April following, the lands of the Oklahoma country should be open to 
settlement, subject to the conditions, limitations and restrictions contained in 
the act authorizing the same and to the Federal laws applicable thereto.?5 
Thus ended the ten-year struggle for the right of settlement in Oklahoma. 

It is a singular fact, and one worthy of note, that the name of Oklahoma 
does not occur in the text of the amendment to the Indian Appropriation Act, 
of 1889, which made provision for the opening of 2,500,000-acre tract which 


23. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 25, pp. 757-59. 

24. Ibid., Vol. 25, p. 1004. 

25. Ibid., Vol. 26, pp. 1544-46; also, in Compiled Statutes of Oklahoma, of various 
editions. 


536 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


had not been assigned to the reservation of any tribe. Moreover, the name is 
not to be found in the text of the executive proclamation, issued by President 
Harrison for the purpose of giving due notice of the time and manner of 
opening these lands to homestead settlement. In both instances, the tract in 
question was described by metes and bounds, so defined as to be within the 
limits of the Indian Territory. Strangely enough, there are scores, possibly 
hundreds of people now living in Oklahoma, who have always believed that 
it was Oklahoma into which they made the run, on that memorable April day, 
in 1889. Yet, strictly speaking, Oklahoma had no legal existence until the 
passage and approval of the Organic Act, more than a year later and neither 
the authors of the amendment to the Indian Appropriation Act nor those who 
prepared the executive proclamation for President Harrison embodied the 
name of Oklahoma in those documents for the reason that it had no legal 
significance. It was the purpose of both documents to bring about the legal 
opening of certain lands in the Indian Territory to homestead settlement. 
The ’Eighty-niners, therefore, really made “the run” into the Indian Terri- 
tory and effected their settlements upon lands within its bounds. These lands 
were not incorporated in the Territory of Oklahoma until more than a year 
later. 


The Cherokee Commission—-While the Oklahoma Bill had been under 
discussion, during the latter part of the previous Congressional session 
(February, 1889), a member of the Cherokee delegation, then in Washington, 
suggested the appointment of a commission, by the Government, for the 
purpose of negotiating the purchase of the Cherokee Outlet from the Chero- 
kee Nation. Accordingly, one section of the Indian Appropriation Act (by 
the terms of which the Oklahoma lands were thrown open to settlement), 
provided for the appointment of a commission to enter into negotiations with 
the Cherokee Nation, and with other tribes and nations of Indians, for the 
cession of surplus lands west of the 96th meridian. In a sense, at least, it 
followed in succession the commission that had treated with the Creek and 
Seminole nations for the final relinquishment of their claims to the lands 
lying west of the Creek and Seminole nations, proper.2® Likewise it was the 
forerunner of the Dawes Commission, which was created four years later. 


Cherokee Outlet—As the agitation for the opening of Oklahoma to settle- 
ment was continued and popular interest began to increase, the question of 
the ownership and use of the Cherokee Outlet, or “Strip,” as it was commonly 
called, constantly assumed greater importance in the discussion of the pro- 
posed opening. This was due, of course, to the natural antipathy which 
existed between the “boomers” on the one hand and the Cherokees, who were 
the owners of the Outlet, and the cattlemen, who were leasing and using its 
lands for the ranging of their herds, on the other. Every thinking man knew 
that, if the Unassigned Lands were opened to settlement, it would only be a 
question of time until the lands of the Cherokee Outlet would likewise have 
to be opened to settlement. Manifestly, this could not be done without having 
at least the nominal consent of the Cherokee people. 


26. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 25, p. 1005. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 537 


In the beginning, the Cherokees had collected (or had attempted to col- 
lect) a head tax on all cattle grazed on the Outlet lands. The net amount thus 
received was ridiculously small, however, though the cattlemen seemed to 
think the amounts assessed against them were excessive. As neither of the 
parties to the arrangement were satisfied, this had led, as already accounted, 
to the organization of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, which, in 
its corporate capacity, leased the entire tract and then sublet it to the individ- 
ual ranchmen or cattle companies to whom certain definite ranges were 
assigned. This obviated the necessity of sending out collectors, as the direc- 
tors of the leasing association were bound by the terms of their contract to 
pay in one-half of the annual rental every six months. 

Although the Cherokees never derived any benefit, tribal or individual, 
from their ownership of the “Perpetual Outlet, West,” during the first forty 
years that its title was vested in the Cherokee Nation, and though it had 
taken most of the proceeds of the head tax on cattle to collect it under the 
old arrangement, yet the leasing of the entire tract for $100,000 per year 
was severely criticized on the ground that it was worth much more and the 
question soon reached a very acute stage in the politics of the Cherokee 
Nation. Meanwhile, there were other white men who also thought the lands 
of the Outlet were worth more than $100,000 per year. 

In the latter part of 1886, the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, 
which had already had its business conditions disturbed by the activity of 
the “boomers” and by the expulsion of the herds from the ranges of the 
Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation, was still further disquieted by the dis- 
covery that a syndicate had been formed for the purchase of all of the Chero- 
kee lands west of the 96th meridian. That the proposed purchase of the 
Cherokee Outlet was more than merely an idle rumor, seems to have been 
conclusively proven by some correspondence which has survived from that 
period.?7 


Proposed Syndicate Purchase of the Cherokee Outlet—This proposition 
was duly submitted to Principal Chief Bushyhead but was not laid before 
the Cherokee Legislative Council, presumably for the reason that public 
sentiment among the Cherokees was overwhelmingly against the sale of the 
Outlet lands. The representatives of the syndicate remained at Tahlequah 
for several weeks, leaving only when they were convinced that further efforts 
to secure consideration of their proposition would be futile. At the same 
time, the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, which had several repre- 
sentatives present at Tahlequah during the session of the Council, was 
striving to secure a renewal of its five-year lease, which still had nearly two 
years torun. The title to the lands of the Outlet, as claimed by the Chero- 
kees, was apparently complicated by the action of the Cherokees in accepting 
an appropriation of $300,000 which had been made by an act of Congress 
approved March 3, 1883, as being “due under appraisement of such lands.” 


27. The correspondence relative to the proposed sale of Cherokee lands of the Cherokee 
Outlet to a financial syndicate was found among the papers of the late Charles H. Eldred, 
of Alva, who was a director of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association. A part of this 
correspondence is reproduced in Appendix XLI-3. 


538 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


The lands of the Cherokee Outlet had been appraised under the direction of 
the President of the United States at 47.49 cents per acre as a basis of settle- 
ment for the lands purchased therefrom for the Osage, Kaw, Pawnee, Ponca, 
Oto and Missouri and Nez Perce tribes, for which appropriations had been 
made and paid to the Cherokee Nation in accordance with the terms of the 
Treaty of 1866. 

The influences which were back of this appropriation of $300,000, together 
with the fact that seven and one-half per cent. of that sum was said to have 
been paid to the attorney of the Cherokee Nation (Colonel William A. Phil- 
lips) became leading issues in the protracted campaign which preceded the 
election of new national officers by the Cherokees, in August, 1887. Then, 
with the situation already muddled, Colonel E. C. Boudinot, who openly ques- 
tioned the legal right of the Cherokee Nation to lease the lands of the Outlet 
to the cattlemen without having first the authority of an act of Congress (and 
who also favored the establishment of a territorial government), took the 
matter of the seven and one-half per cent. on the $300,000 Congressional appro- 
priation into the Federal Court, where Colonel William A. Phillips and several 
prominent Cherokees were indicted for conspiracy. In the Cherokee National 
election held at this time the conservative Downing Party elected Joel B. 
Mayes as principal chief over Rabbit Bunch to the opposition nominee, by a 
substantial majority. 

After the election and inauguration of the new national officers, the ques- 
tion of a new lease came up for consideration in the Cherokee Council and 
was the subject of much jockeying and wire pulling. The inauguration did 
not take place in as orderly a manner as it should, the count of votes having 
been delayed for some reason unexplained, so the newly elected principal 
chief forcibly took possession of the executive office and was sworn in. He 
issued a proclamation three days later (November 10) convening the council 
in special session. Much time was spent on contested elections, organiza- 
tion and patronage. After being in session a number of weeks, the council 
finally passed a bill to authorize a new lease with the Cherokee Strip Live 
Stock Association for the sum of $125,000 per year as rental on the lands of 
the Outlet. This bill was vetoed by the principal chief. A strong effort was 
made to pass the bill over the executive veto but it was defeated, though 
several members of the principal chiefs own party (Downing) voted with 
the opposition. The council adjourned (February 9, 1888) without taking 
further action in regard to the matter. 

Chief Mayes then suggested that the proper way to lease the lands of the 
Outlet would be to offer the lease to the highest bidder. This started still 
further discussion among the people and thus popular interest in the matter 
was kept up until Chief Mayes issued another proclamation, convening 
the council in special session on the 25th of June following. A bill was 
passed within a few days, authorizing and directing the principal chief to 
execute a new lease with the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association for the 
sum of $150,000. Claiming that he had two higher bids (one of $160,000 and 
another of $175,000 per year), Chief Mayes vetoed this bill also. The council 
then amended its bill, raising the amount to $175,000 per year, but Chief 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 539 


Mayes’ other bidders having raised their bids to $185,000 per year, he vetoed 
that also. Charges of favoritism on the part of the principal chief and of cor- 
ruption and venality of the part of leading members of the opposition in the 
council were freely made. The situation finally became so unpleasant (as 
well as so unpromising) that Chief Mayes availed himself of his constitu- 
tional prerogative and adjourned the council after it had been in session 
nearly four weeks. 

The five-year lease of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association was to 
expire on the Ist of October, 1888, while the Legislative Council of the Chero- 
kee Nation was not to convene until five weeks later. In September, Chief 
Mayes issued a proclamation, addressed to all concerned and more especially 
to the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association and its sub-lessees, giving due 
notice of the expiration of the five-year lease and serving notice also that the 
agents of the Cherokee Nation would on or immediately after the 1st day of 
October call upon the lessee and its sub-lessees to surrender the property, 
together with improvements thereon, in accordance with the terms of the 
lease made and entered into in 1883. But the officials of the Cherokee Strip 
Live Stock Association were not asleep. Assuming that something must be 
done to “bridge the hiatus” between the expiration of the lease (October 1) 
and the date of the next council meeting (November 5), E. M. Hewins, direc- 
tor and president of the association, went to Tahlequah and entered into a 
temporary contract with Robert B. Ross, treasurer of the Cherokee Nation, 
whereby the association was to retain possession of the lands of the Outlet 
until the 1st of January following, at a rental rate of $175,000 per year, the 
sum of $43,750 being paid to cover the rental for the three months designated 
as the term of the contract. Chief Mayes repudiated the Ross contract (which 
was evidently executed without authority) and issued a supplemental procla- 
mation (October 9, 1888) demanding immediate redelivery of the property 
held under lease. After the council convened in November, the long contest was 
finally ended by the passage and approval of a bill providing for the renewing 
the lease of the lands of the Outlet to the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Asso- 
ciation for five years at an annual rental of $200,000. The New York syndi- 
cate had a representative on the ground at Tahlequah to renew the offer, 
made two years before, namely, to purchase the entire tract at a price of $3 
per acre, but, as before, the offer did not receive serious consideration, even 
though it was expected that the Cherokee Nation might later be forced to 
sell the lands to the United States for a much smaller price. 


++ (><a )-9)2 ¢ Cam] +» } 


CHAPTER XLII 


THE OPENING DAY AND THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED 


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CHAPTER XLII. 
THE OPENING DAY AND THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED. 


The appearance of the proclamation of the President, setting a date for 
the formal opening of Oklahoma to settlement under the homestead laws of the 
United States, was eagerly awaited by the prospective settlers in many places 
throughout the West, and especially along the borders of the adjoining states, 
where many of the former “boomers” were residing. Its publication in the daily 
papers, the day after it was issued, therefore sent a thrill through the frames 
of many people who had been awaiting for many years the privilege of enter- 
ing the “promised land,” as they were wont to call it. Indeed, intending set- 
tlers began to drift toward the border immediately after the passage and 
approval of the act authorizing the opening of the coveted lands to settlement. 
While there were many in Arkansas and Texas, the numbers were much 
greater along the southern Kansas border. Hotel accommodations in the 
border towns were soon overtaxed, while thousands lived in camps or slept in 
their wagons, yet still the multitude increased. 

Among the throngs of people who were thus assembled along the border 
were many of the former “boomers,” who had followed Payne and Couch in 
their repeated efforts to settle the Oklahoma country. In some instances, at 
least, the sense of satisfaction in the ultimate triumph of the cause for which 
they had so long contended was clouded by a feeling of resentment because of 
the fact that they could expect no favors in the matter of being privileged to 
select choice quarter sections upon which to file their homestead claims. 
Indeed, they found themselves continually jostled and elbowed by the thou- 
sands who had known little of Oklahoma and cared less until the announce- 
ment of the date set for its opening to settlement by the Presidential proclama- 
tion. Yet these were gathered, not only to contend on an even footing with 
the “boomers,” who had spent time and money and energy in the seemingly 
hopeless agitation and struggle for the right to settle in Oklahoma, but also, 
without having risked or sacrificed aught themselves, some who even affected 
to look with suspicion upon the “boomers” and to belittle and discredit the 
part that the latter had borne in pioneering the movement. 

The assembled multitudes included people from practically every state in 
the Union, attracted thither by the novelty of the occasion. There were people 
of all classes and conditions of life, farmers, mechanics, laborers and profes- 
sional men, composing the principal elements, though there was also an 
unduly large proportion of adventurers, gamblers, and sharpers. Peace and 
good order generally prevailed, for most of the people were disposed to be 
civil and good natured. Although there were many who came to the border 
because of their curiosity, or who were actuated by a mercenary or speculative 
spirit, the vast majority were moved by an impulse to seek land and build 


1. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol 26, pp. 1544-46; also in various editions of the Compiled 
Statutes of Oklahoma, 


544 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


homes. As the people who prepared to make the race for the privilege of filing 
on the most prized quarter sections of land had come from many different 
directions, so they also posted themselves on all sides of the Unassigned 
Lands. Many moved southward from the Kansas border and posted them- 
selves on the southern boundary of the Cherokee Outlet on the north. Others 
gathered on the line of the Iowa, Kickapoo and Pottawatomie-Shawnee reser- 
vations, on the east, while still others took up their stations in the valley of 
the South Canadian, on the south, or on the line of Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
country, on the west. As the waiting settlers increased in numbers in the 
camps scattered along the boundaries of the Oklahoma country some of 
them became overanxious lest, in the rush, they might fail to secure 
desirable claims. Some, indeed, became so anxious that they disregarded the 
conditions set forth in the rules prescribed for the opening of the lands to set- 
tlement and, eluding the vigilance of the cordon of troops by which the bounds 
of the district were patroled, slipped in and concealed themselves at points 
conveniently near to the best lands so that they would not have far to go 
when the legal hour of opening arrived. Many of these people, who were 
called “sooners,”? from the circumstance of having entered the country too 
soon, were removed by the soldiers. However, it was found impossible to 
apprehend all of them, so there were many who succeeded in concealing them- 
selves and thus eluding arrest and removal. 

Not all the intending settlers went so far as the immediate border of the 
Oklahoma country, however. The southern Kansas towns nearest to the 
Oklahoma country continued to be over-crowded until the morning of the 
opening day. There was but one line of railway in the Oklahoma country 
then, that of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, which passed southward across 
the central part of the tract. Fifteen passenger trains left Arkansas City, Kan- 
sas, between daylight and 11 A. M., on the day of the opening. Fully 10,000 
people wanted to board the first train out, the larger part of them having been 
without lodging the night before. Standing room was at a premium in every 
coach, the platforms and steps being occupied (for there were no vestibuled 
coaches used), and many men rode on the roofs of the coaches. The first 
train ran to the northern boundary of the Unassigned Lands, where it 
stopped to await the noon hour. As the other trains came up successively, 
each was stopped as close as possible behind the one preceding. 

The people who had encamped on the boundary of the promised land pre- 
pared for the noonday race (for a race it was to be), some being in wagons, 
while others were in buggies, buckboards or road carts, with many on horse- 
back, and not a few on foot. All these formed in line, extending along the 
boundary as far as the range of vision extended, both ways. Slowly the hands 
of the watch moved as the invading host waited the sun’s approach to the 
meridian. During those hours of weary waiting strong men felt the grip of 
nervous tension such as they had never felt before—a sensation that has been 


2. During the course of the years intervening since 1889, the people of Oklahoma came 
to be known by several State nicknames, “Boomer” and “Sooner” being the most common. 
In recent years, however, the terms ‘Sooner’ and ‘“Socner State” have become used almost 
to the exclusion of any other nickname. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 545 


not inaptly likened to the feeling of the soldier about to go into his first battle. 
Even the horses seemed to tire of waiting, as if a portion of the eagerness and 
impatience of driver or rider had been imparted to them. Meanwhile the 
patroling cavalrymen, who were posted at long intervals, patiently sat upon 
their steeds while waiting to give the signal which would start the race. Again 
and again men glanced at the ascending sun and, for a last time, small groups 
here and there consulted maps and charts, for some were better posted than 
others as to where the choicest lands might be found. At last, the fateful hour 
of noon approached ; everyone took his place in line, and then a strange hush 
fell upon the waiting people as they fixed their gaze upon the trooper who was 
to give the signal. 

At last, the faint notes of a distant bugle* came drifting up to the line and 
then the trooper out in front fired his carbine or revolver in the air. Then 
there arose a mighty shout, which has been likened unto that which was heard 
when the walls of Jericho fell, and the greatest horse race in all human history 
was on, in all of its intensity. Neither tongue nor pen has ever been able to 
fully portray the scene which followed. Fleet race horses which had been 
groomed and trained for days; slow-moving, heavy-gaited plow horses, in 
whose plebeian veins there flowed no drop of racing blood; wiry bronchos, 
whose trim hoofs were at home on the prairie turf, all were straining to do 
their best that day, which was eventful in the lives of horses as well as of 
men.* On the railroad, fifteen long trains of passenger coaches, each literally 
freighted with cheering humanity, with whistles shrieking and funnels belch- 
ing smoke and cinders as, one after another, they raced down the line, past 
Orlando and Alfred (Mulhall), toward the Cimarron, to Guthrie. And other 
trains were coming northward from Purcell, past Noble and Norman, to Okla- 
homa City and Edmund and Guthrie. At every station there were some who 
alighted to take their chances in or near some of the smaller towns, though by 
far the greater part of those who entered the country by rail were destined to 
land either at Guthrie or Oklahoma City.® 

There were many laughable incidents and some accidents that gave a 
tragic cast to the day. There were, of course, many cases wherein two men 
found that they had landed on the same quarter section. Sometimes such a 
contingency led to extended litigation; in others, the matter was amicably 
adjusted; in a few cases, it led to personal altercations and violence. Some, 
who had paid a good price to secure authentic information concerning the 
location of the choicest lands, and who had provided themselves with swift 


3. The trumpet which was used by Trumpeter J. H. Brandt, of Troop L, 5th U. S. 
Cavalry, in sounding ‘‘the charge” at a point near the intersection of the Indian Meridian 
and the Canadian River (in the southern part of the present Cleveland County), at 12 
o’clock M., April 22, 1889, is in the museum of the Oklahoma Historical Society. 

4, The late Dr. Delos Walker, of Oklahoma City, who was a witness of and participant 
in the opening race, wrote a very terse and graphic description of this event, twenty 
years later, which will be found reproduced in Appendix XLI-1. 

5. The first northbound trains were halted at Oklahoma City for rather lengthy stops, 
in order to permit passengers to select and mark town lots and return to the train for the 
purpose of pursuing their journey to Guthrie and file on the selection thus made before the 
Government Land Office. 


Okla—35 


546 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


race horses for the run, covered the ground in record time, only to find the 
coveted land in possession of a “sooner” who had sneaked out of his hiding 
place in the brush near by in plenty of time to forestall anyone who had 
abided in good faith by the rules prescribed. Later it developed that many of 
these “sooners” had gone into the country in groups and parties with the 
express understanding that they would protect each other in their efforts at 
deception. 

It was estimated that 100,000 people entered Oklahoma on the day of the 
opening. Fifteen thousand were said to have spent the first night in Guthrie 
and fully 10,000 at Oklahoma City, and others of the new cities and towns 
were peopled in like proportion. Nothing in the history of American pioneer- 
ing—not even California in ’49, nor the Pike’s Peak country in ’59—equalled 
or even remotely resembled the rush into Oklahoma on that April day. In 
the morning, a solitude and a wilderness, as it had been through all the ages; 
at midday, a surging tide of eager, earnest, excited humanity; in the evening, 
a land of many people, with here and there a tented townsite and thousands of 
campfires sending up the incense of peace! Though they came in disorder, 
like the rout of a defeated and retreating army, their conquest was more com- 
plete and their mastery more lasting than that of Roman or of Saxon, than 
that of Goth or of Hun. 


Taming the Wilderness—When the uncounted thousands who had slept on 
the ground—under sheltering tents or under starlit skies—awoke on the morn- 
ing of April 23, 1889, the frolic of the race for claims was over and the more 
serious business of planting the institutions of civilization in a wilderness was 
demanding attention. There was congestion everywhere. There were too 
many claimants on the best lands and on the most valuable town lots. None 
of the townsites had been surveyed—a most lamentable evidence of official 
incompetency on the part of the Interior Department, which, even in the lim- 
ited length of time at command after the issuance of the executive proclama- 
tion fixing the date of the opening, could have had the site of every town and 
village surveyed and platted, thus saving much, if not most, of the confusion 
and not a little of the disagreement and litigation which followed the hap- 
hazard settlement of the towns. 

The one railroad then operating in the Oklahoma country was scarcely 
prepared for the rush of business which it had been so suddenly called upon 
to handle. Its depots were but mere box-like shacks; its side tracks, espe- 
cially at Guthrie and Oklahoma City, though recently enlarged, were wholly 
inadequate to the necessities of the occasion. Baggage and freight covered 
every available inch of space on the depot platforms and were piled up in an 
indiscriminate heap that extended far beyond in either direction. Trunks, 


6. Practically every quarter section within a mile of the townsites of Guthrie and 
Oklahoma City had from one to three claimants and some of them even more. In its issue 
of May 21, 1889, the Oklahoma Gazette (Oklahoma City) presented the following sugges- 
tive territorial item: | 

“And Satan took him up unto an exceeding high place and showed him the whole val- 
a Of tn eee and said: ‘All these have my deputy marshals staked before noon of 

pri fF “ 


i il ial 


SCENE AT OKLAHOMA CITY, JULY 4, 1889 


VIEW OF THE SITE OF OKLAHOMA CITY, AS IT APPEARED THE MORNING OF APRIL 22d, 1889 


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OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 547 


tents, camping outfits, merchandise of every sort and kind were so inextric- 
ably mixed that it was only with greatest patience and labor that each owner 
found his property and secured it and, slowly, out of the confusion, a sem- 
blance of order began to appear. The townsites were soon dotted with tents; 
then cars filled with lumber were unloaded and, as the carpenters found and 
secured their tool chests the frames of the first buildings began to take form.? 


Municipal Government by Popular Assemblage—In the meantime the con- 
fusion and the disputes continued. Where and how wide were the streets? 
How long were the blocks to be? From what initial point should the surveys 
be made? Who was to be authorized to do the surveying, and by whom was 
such authority to be conveyed? These were some of the vexing questions 
which no one seemed authorized to answer. The only semblance of legal 
authority was that embodied in a company or squad of United States soldiers, 
encamped near at hand for the purpose of preserving order, and the presence 
of a few deputy United States marshals, who were answerable to the new 
court at Muskogee, 150 or more miles away, and assuredly neither of these 
agencies was clothed with power to decide or act in regard to such matters. 
Probably no one in any of the cities and towns, which had thus been peopled 
in a day, had ever experienced anything of the kind before. Yet, the ingenuity, 
the inventiveness and the splendid initiative of the typical American pioneer 
were there in plenty and were equal to the occasion. Probably few of the 
people thus thrown together—they could scarcely be called inhabitants or 
citizens as yet—knew aught of the old New England “town meeting,” and 
fewer still of the ancient Anglo-Saxon “folk-mote,” yet, unconsciously, they 
went back to first principles and called popular assemblages just such as the 
“folk-mote” and the “town meeting” were in their times, respectively. 

These popular assemblages were organized in an orderly manner by the 
election of the usual officers—a chairman and a secretary. The object of the 
gathering was then stated, namely, that it was necessary to find some means 
by which order might be brought out of seeming chaos—that the townsite 
might be surveyed, the metes and bounds of its lots and blocks ascertained 
and the streets and alleys thereof duly established. For this purpose com- 
mittees were selected by popular viva voce vote. 

At Oklahoma City, where there was probably more congestion and more 
dispute over the location of streets and the ownership of lots than in any 
other town, Angelo C. Scott was chosen chairman of the meeting, which was 
held in an open space, with several thousand men in attendance. The chair- 
man was hoisted on top of a large dry goods box so that he might be in sight of 
all. When it came to the selection of the members of a standing committee 
to supervise the survey of the townsite and the location of its streets and 
alleys, the people found that they were strangers to each other and, then as 
now, there were men who did not wish to vote for a candidate whom they did 


7. In some instances, wherein the new arrivals had planned to locate in Guthrie or 
Oklahoma City, the material for building had been cut and marked so that when the lum- 
ber arrived the work of framing, enclosing and finishing was put through in record- 
breaking time. 


548 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


not know, even by sight or reputation. So, when the first man was nominated, 
a voice called out. “Put him up and let us have a look at him,” and instantly 
the demand became unanimous. Therefore, every man who was nominated 
for membership on the committee was required to be lifted up on the big box 
beside the chairman, where everybody could “look him over,” and they took 
an “aye” and “no” vote on his candidacy without further ceremony. Nor was 
there any hesitancy about rejecting a nominee, for there were several who were 
dismissed with a strong preponderance of “noes!” It is of interest in this 
connection to remark that, among the men thus named and required to face 
the crowd for inspection and then voted down, was one who had once been a 
nominee for President of the United States, and who, later on, had been one of 
the chief Congressional sponsors for the opening of Oklahoma—General James 
B. Weaver, of Iowa.® 

There was also much confusion at the post offices, especially at the larger 
centers, such as Guthrie, Kingfisher and Oklahoma City. The facilities for 
handling the mails, which had been arranged at the eleventh hour, were woe- 
fully inadequate. Of course, there were no boxes and nothing but general 
delivery of mail matter was possible. Consequently there was always a long 
line of men waiting, the line sometimes extending well out into the street. In 
Guthrie, the small boys (of which there were a few almost from the first day) 
soon found that, by getting in line and gradually working their way up toward 
the delivery window, they could “sell” such a place in line to some busy man 
of affairs who could not afford to spend half an hour or an hour in line await- 
ing his “turn” to inquire for his mail. Many a dime or quarter was thus 
earned before the postmaster put a stop to the practice. 

The townsites were soon surveyed ;® disputes over the ownership of lots 
were settled or compromised ;!° the tents gave way to shanties or cottages in 
the residential districts, while substantial frame buildings appeared on the 
business streets. Banks were opened for business, stocks of groceries, dry 
goods, hardware and other lines of merchandise were placed on sale.1! Still one 
thing was lacking—there was no semblance of municipal government, which 
seemed to be desirable, especially in the larger towns, nor was there any law 
granting authority for the organization of the same. Again the people went 


8. Personal information secured from Professor Angelo C. Scott, who, forty years later 
(1929), is still a resident of Oklahoma City. 


9. Because of the dereliction of the Department of the Interior in not having townsites 
surveyed and platted in advance of the date of settlement, there was much confusion in 
the making of such surveys. At Oklahoma City, two surveys were made, one beginning at 
the north line of the townsite and the other at the south line, and working toward each 
other. As there was no agreement between the two surveying crews as to the location of 
north and south streets, these were projected upon entirely different lines, hence the jogs 
and uneven intersections on the north and south streets of the original plat between 
Grand and Reno avenues, inclusive. 


10. Naturally, there were a number of people who found they had staked claims on 
lots which were subsequently found to be located in the middle of a street, the claimants 
being thus left without recourse. In its issue of May 25, 1889, the Oklahoma Gazette 
(Oklahoma City) contained the following territorial observation: 

“When Adam entered Paradise, Satan sent in a lot of surveyors and kept changing the 
stakes on the corner lots and streets and alleys, and juggling with the ground he made 
vacant until Adam was willing to eat sour apples and green persimmons and be let out.” 


11. A systematic compilation or summary of the business interests of Oklahoma City 
will be found in Appendix XLI-2. 


CAVALRY DRILL, AT JEFFERSON, OKLAHOMA, A FRW DAYS AFTER THE OPENING OF 
THE CHEROKEE OUTLET, SEPTEMBER, 1893 


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VIEW OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA, IN 1897 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 549 


back to first principles, convened popular assemblages and voted to establish 
provisional municipal governments. Arrangements were made for holding 
regular elections, candidates for mayor and members of the city council were 
nominated and, on the day appointed, the election was held and the ballots 
duly counted and the results announced. The officers thus chosen promptly 
assumed charge of municipal affairs, selected police officers and, in general, 
though lacking in the matter of sanction by any organic law, exerted a very 
wholesome and beneficial influence.!2 

Among the men who arrived on the first day there were generally to be 
found in each town one or more ministers of the gospel. These busied them- 
selves in selecting and securing building sites for houses of worship. As the 
opening day was Monday, when the seventh day came it was universally rec- 
ognized as a day of rest, every business house and every place of amusement 
being closed while practically the entire population attended church services, 
either in the open air or in tabernacle tents. 

Outside the towns there was also great activity on the part of the new set- 
tlers. The first efforts on the part of practically every homesteader were 
directed toward the breaking of at least a few acres of ground and the planting 
of corn, cane and vegetables on the sod with a view to the production of some 
sort of a crop the first season. Later, when lumber yards were opened up for 
business, and building material became available, the building of shacks, 
shanties and farm homes followed in due course, but, in most instances at 
least, such improvements were left until the first plowing and planting could 
be done, the homesteader living in camp meanwhile. Where there was suffi- 
cient timber some fencing was done and houses with walls of logs or stock- 
ade posts were also built. The roads naturally followed the easiest grades 
and the shortest distances, regardless of cardinal points, section lines or 
property rights. There were no bridges or culverts, of course. 


The “Sooners”—The most perplexing problem at the time of the opening 
was unquestionably that of the “sooner” element which had entered the coun- 
try in advance of the appointed day and hour to select and claim for them- 
selves some of the choicest lands in the Territory. It is but fair to state that 
many, if not most of them, had been misled by representations which had been 
made to them by no less authoritative advisor than General James B. Weaver, 
who had been one of the original supporters of the Oklahoma movement in 
Congress. General Weaver was down on the Kansas border for some days 
before the date appointed for the opening of the Oklahoma country. He 
advised some of the intending settlers that they might lawfully go into Okla- 
homa so long as one did not go on the tract upon which he contemplated filing 
a homestead entry. Relying upon this advice numerous persons did enter the 
Oklahoma country, in good faith, before the date set for the opening, only to 
learn later that by so doing they had forfeited their homestead rights in the 
Territory. 

12. In Oklahoma City there were two municipalities for a time—Oklahoma City and 


pone Oklahoma City—and, in Guthrie, there were three—Guthrie, East Guthrie and West 
uthrie. 


550 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


The “sooners” were banded together for mutual and common protection 
and codperation. In many, if not most, instances it was impossible to prove 
that they had violated the spirit as well as the letter of the regulations under 
which the lands had been opened to settlement. They could not be made to 
testify against themselves and they would not bear witness against each 
other. The result was that many of the most desirable quarter sections were 
occupied both by a “sooner” and by a legal settler. While the latter some- 
times had abundant reasons to doubt the good faith and sincerity of the rival 
claimant, he lacked the necessary proof to establish the facts in the case. Sev- 
eral years passed before all of these disputes were finally adjusted. Eventu- 
ally, a number of these “sooners” were proven to have perjured themselves in 
testimony given before Government Land Office authorities, either in their 
own interest or in behalf of that of one or more of their fellow “sooners.” In 
all such cases the “sooner” who was proven to have borne false witness was 
arrested, tried and, upon conviction, sentenced to a term in the penitentiary 
by the Territorial courts, acting in their Federal jurisdiction.1% 

The first Territorial Assembly passed an act which made it possible to hale 
the presumptive “sooner” before a county court on almost any pretext, and 
then compel him to answer the question as to his whereabouts on the day and 
hour that the Oklahoma lands were officially opened to settlement. The oper- 
ation of this law very materially speeded up the adjustment of rival claims to 
many homesteads in the Territory.14 A few “sooners” are believed to have 
succeeded in holding on and proving up their claims—as the result of per- 
jured declarations, of course. As tragedies subsequently happened in such 
families, legal settlers were wont to shake their heads, and with a knowing 
look, make remarks about “trouble, like chickens, coming home to roost!” 

Many lines of business were overdone in the way of competition, espe- 
cially in the larger towns. With but little that a lawyer could do save in the 
way of practice before the United States land offices, there was an oversupply 
of legal talent. Notwithstanding the fact that Oklahoma has never since had 
cause to feel the deficiency in the supply of aspiring politicians, it is probable 
that there were more of that class in proportion to the population during the 
first year after the settlement than there ever were in any other part of the 
country, before or since. In fact, Oklahoma suddenly became the mecca of 
the superfluous professional politicians of a dozen or more western states, 
most of whom held on for a year or two and then drifted elsewhere when they 
found that there was nothing for them here. The names of many who took 
an active part in the public affairs of the first year never appeared again in 
the chronicles of Oklahoma after the end of the first territorial legislative ses- 
sion. Comparatively few of the first mayors, councilmen, convention leaders, 
etc., remained as permanent citizens of the Territory. 


13. Personal information secured from Charles F. Colcord, now president of the Okla- 
homa Historical Society, who, as sheriff of Oklahoma County, accompanied a number of 
“sooners,” whe had been convicted of perjury, to the penitentiary, where they were to be 
incarcerated. 


14. An interesting account of a young man who had been persuaded to come into Okla- 
homa before the authorized date of settlement, but who refused to swear falsely, even 
when he knew it would cost him his homestead, is related in Appendix XLI-3. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 551 


The press of the newly settled country had its nucleus in one paper in 
Oklahoma City (The Times) and one in Guthrie (The State Capital), the 
initial numbers of which were printed outside the limits of the Territory, 
before it was possible to bring in and set up printing plants. The first paper 
actually printed in the Oklahoma country after the opening was the “Guthrie 
Get-up,” a three column folio, which was printed on a job press, with Will T. 
Little as editor and publisher. The galaxy of Oklahoma’s first newspaper men 
was a notable one, including a number who were counted as veterans and 
others, not less talented, who were younger in years. The newspaper business, 
like other lines, both professional and commercial, was overcrowded at first 
and there were a number of consolidations and suspensions in consequence. 

Most of the pioneers of 1889 were people of very moderate means and, 
indeed, not a few of them were in straitened circumstances. Under such 
conditions it was not strange that the improvements made on many of the 
claims that first year were of a very modest and inexpensive character. Some 
of the settlers absented themselves from their homesteads during part of the 
following fall and winter in order to find work in some of the neighboring 
states. Some sold relinquishments to their claims and left the country, little, 
if any, better off than they were when they made the race. Others, who were 
no better off in the beginning, held on in spite of poverty and discouragement, 
and ultimately achieved a competence. 

Game was very plentiful the first year, especially deer, wild turkeys, 
prairie chickens and quail, and, as there was no law against shipping the same 
at that time, many of the new settlers eked out a living by hunting. Prairie 
chickens were hauled to railroad stations by the wagon load during the fall 
and winter seasons, and other feathered game in proportionate number. Need- 
less to add, game became very scarce in the settled part of the territory within 
two years after the opening. 

(See Appendix LVI—2.) 


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CHAPTER XLII 


INDIAN LAND CESSIONS AND ADDITIONAL 
LAND OPENINGS 


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CHAPTER XLIII. 
INDIAN LAND CESSIONS AND ADDITIONAL LAND OPENINGS. 


During the spring of 1890, the members of the commission to treat with the 
Cherokee Nation and other tribes and nations of Indians, for the relinquish- 
ment of unoccupied lands situated west of the 96th meridian, spent much 
time in negotiating with the Iowa, the Sac and Fox, the Pottawatomie and 
the Absentee Shawnee, and the Kickapoo tribes. In May, of that year, Gen- 
eral Fairchild resigned his membership on the commission and former Govy- 
ernor George W. Jerome, of Michigan, was appointed to fill the vacancy thus 
created. In June following, negotiations were opened with the Cheyenne and 
Arapahoe tribes. As the result of the work of this commission, all of the 
tribes above mentioned, with the exception of the Kickapoo, agreed to accept 
allotments of land in severalty and permit the opening of the surplus lands 
of their respective reservations to settlement by white people. 


Opening the First Indian Reservations—The first of the surplus lands 
thus thrown open to settlement were those of the Iowa, Sac and Fox, and 
Pottawatomie-Shawnee reservations, all of which were located east of the 
country which had been thrown open to settlement in April, 1889. The aggre- 
gate area of these reservations was 868,414 acres and the date set for their 
opening to homestead settlement was September 22, 1891.1 From the lands 
thus opened to settlement, two new counties were formed, in addition to 
which Logan, Oklahoma and Cleveland counties were enlarged by the addi- 
tion of lands lying east of the Indian meridian and the area of Payne County 
was increased by the addition of that part lying south of the Cimarron River. 
One of the new counties was officially designated as County “A” and the 
other as County “B.” In the general election of the following year (Novem- 
ber, 1892), the people of these counties by popular vote chose the names by 
which they have since been known. County “A” voted to be called Lincoln 
County,? while County “B” chose the name of Pottawatomie. 

The next land opening of surplus Indian lands to homestead settlement 
was that of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation, which occurred on the 
19th of April, 1892.2 This reservation had an area of 3,500,562 acres and from 
it six new counties, respectively designated as “C,” “D,” “E,” “F,” “G,” and 
“FL,” were formed. These counties were subsequently named Blaine, Dewey, 
Day, Roger Mills, Custer and Washita, respectively. Kingfisher and Cana- 
dian counties were enlarged also by the addition of considerable areas from 


1. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 27, pp. 989-938. The executive proclamation for the 
opening of the Sac and Fox and Pottawatomie reservations was issued on September 18, 
1891, only four days before the proposed opening. 

2. In the campaign in County “A,” nominations for the county’s name were made by 
the several political parties. The Republican County Convention proposed the name of 
Lincoln; the Democratic Convention advocated the naming of the county Sax and Fox; 
the Populists proposed to call it Weaver, for General James B. Weaver, of Iowa, then the 
Populist nominee for President. The name of Lincoln was most popular. 

3. U. S. Statutes at Large, op. cit., Vol. 27, pp. 1018-21. 


556 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation. County seat townsites were chosen 
in advance of the opening and were reserved from homestead entry. 

No land districts were established for either of these land openings. The 
lands thrown open September 22, 1891, were apportioned to the Guthrie and 
Oklahoma City land districts* and all the lands of the Cheyenne and Arapa- 
hoe country were likewise apportioned to existing districts, to the great in- 
convenience of settlers who lived far from the district land office. Indeed, 
every time new lands were to be thrown open to settlement, some of the land 
office officials, whose perquisites and fees were running below the maximum, 
were wont to hie themselves to Washington and scheme for an enlargement 
of the bounds of their respective districts. 

There had been much complaint of “sooners” taking the best lands in the 
first opening, in April, 1889. There was still more complaint in the land open- 
ings of September, 1891, and April, 1892, so much, in fact, that it was 
expected that there would be some modification of the plans for future land 
openings. 


The Cherokee Outlet—After nearly four years of negotiation, the Chero- 
kee Nation, through its principal chief and legislative council, ceded its 
claims to the Cherokee Outlet (more commonly called the Cherokee Strip) to 
the Government, May 19, 1893. Great interest was manifested throughout 
the West in the proposed opening of the lands thus secured for homestead 
settlement. On August 19, 1893,5 President Cleveland issued a proclamation, 
giving due notice that the lands of the Cherokee Outlet, together with the 
surplus lands of the Pawnee and Tonkawa reservations, would be thrown 
open to settlement at noon on the 16th day of September. Elaborate rules 
were said to have been designed for the especial purpose of preventing 
“sooners”’ from entering the Outlet in advance of the prescribed hour. Four 
new land districts were to be established with offices respectively at Perry, 
Enid, Alva and Woodward. In order that there might be some means of 
keeping “sooners” out of the country, for those intending to file on lands in 
the Outlet, nine registration booths were established at different points 
around the border. At these booths, intending settlers were to file a declara- 
tion in writing, showing their qualifications for the right to make a home- 
stead entry. A certificate was then issued by the registry clerks and this 
was attached to the declaration already made out and the whole was to be 
preserved by the entryman for his identification when he appeared at the 
district land office after the opening for the purpose of filing his homestead 
claim upon a given quarter section of land. 

The opening of the Cherokee Outlet was not a pleasant incident in the 


4. Oklahoma City land district was opened by provision of an act of Congress, Sep- 
tember 1, 1890. 

5. U. S. Statutes at Large, op. cit., Vol. 28, pp. 1222-37. This proclamation was much 
longer than any similar document previously issued, which gives all the details, rules, 
regulations and stipulations which it embodied. 

6. Naturally, every intending ‘“‘sooner” visited one of these booths and registered 
before making his way into the country to be opened. In fact, registration certificates 
were regarded as a huge joke by all of the “sooners.” An account of how a group of 
“sooners” were dispossessed, without the formalities of legal proceedure, in the Red Rock 
Creek Valley, in the northern part of Noble County, is related in Appendix XLIII-1. 


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OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 557 


history of Oklahoma. In the first place, the season had been hot and dry 
and, in consequence, water was scarce and dust drifted in every breeze. Vast 
throngs of people came to the opening; the registration booths were insuffi- 
cient in number as well as clumsy and impracticable in the service rendered. 
People stood in line at the booths all day in the hot sun and, when the clerks 
quit work for the day, in the evening, the lines of waiting applicants were 
scarcely diminished in number. Such lines remained in formation throughout 
the night so that each might reach the booth in due turn the next morning. 
Under such circumstances, there was naturally considerable suffering. In 
some instances, women as well as men were found standing in line for hours, 
in order to qualify for the privilege of filing a homestead entry. 

Aside from the registration booths and the formalities incident thereto, 
the opening of the Cherokee Outlet did not differ materially from those 
which had preceded it in 1889, 1891 and 1892. The same vast throngs gath- 
ered on the border of the “promised land.” There was the same variety of 
equipment and preparation for the race; the same suppressed excitement 
as the eventful hour drew near and, when the signal was given, there was the 
same wild race to possess the wilderness lands which would be wild no more. 
But this was not all—ah, no—for lo, when the homesteader who had bided 
the time in good faith, came to the land that should have been his by right, 
there was the “sooner,” with no sign of sweat on the hair of his untired horse, 
aye, and with a registration certificate in his possession! What wonder that 
there was more complaint than ever, or that there was official scandal, with 
much talk of incompetency or corruption (or both) on the part of some of 
the officials directly concerned.* 

Perry was eight miles from the line, yet there were one hundred horse- 
men on the townsite seven minutes after the hour appointed for the opening. 
' “*Soonered’ in the most approved fashion,” was the comment of thousands 
of disgusted people who had waited on the line until the signal for the begin- 
ning of the race had been given.® 

It was estimated that 30,000 people entered the Outlet from Arkansas City 
and its vicinity. Vast crowds were also gathered at Caldwell, Kiowa, Engle- 
wood and intermediate points on the border. Likewise, on the southern 
border of the Outlet, at Orlando, Hennessey and intermediate points, the 
line was crowded with people. Perry probably had a larger population the 
first night of its existence as a settled town than it had for many years after- 
ward, if, indeed, it can even yet equal in numbers the people who sojourned 
there so briefly for a day or two at the opening. 

By the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, there were added to the settled and 
organized portions of Oklahoma seven new counties, which were respectively 
designated as ae 2 aR Me ‘Ne OR ep and sO The names subse- 
quently adopted by vote of the people of these counties respectively were 
Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble, and Pawnee. 

7. For one instance in which selfishness did not put its blemish on the opening of the 
Cherokee Outlet, see Appendix XLIII-2. 

8. As in previous land openings, numerous race horses were brought to the border and 
specially groomed and trained to take their riders into this race for claims, for horses 


were still helping to make history in those days. For stories of some of the horses which 
made the run into the Cherokee Outlet on the opening day, see Appendix XLIII-3. 


558 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Opening of the Kickapoo Reservation—The reservation of the Kickapoo 
Indians was located in Lincoln, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie counties. As a 
tribe, the Kickapoos have always been numbered among the most conserva- 
tive Indians. They did not want to adopt the ways of the white people and 
they were bitterly opposed to accepting individual allotments of land for 
personal fee simple ownership. The Government Commissioners, seemingly, 
could make no headway in the effort to induce them to accept allotments and 
sell their surplus lands. It is said that they were finally induced to sign a 
power of attorney to certain persons, ostensibly for the purpose of collecting 
some money alleged to have been due the Kickapoos, and that this power of 
attorney was used in signing an agreement on behalf of the Kickapoos to 
accept allotments and sell their surplus lands, in order that same might be 
thrown open to settlement under the homestead laws. The lands were opened 
to settlement by the usual executive proclamation and race, May 25, 1895. 
The Kickapoos were never satisfied, most of them leaving and going to 
Mexico for a time. The migration to Mexico aided, if not instigated, by 
scheming white men conspired to buy Kickapoo allotments for a mere frac- 
tion of their value. This resulted in a scandal and a Congressional investi- 
gation which is alleged to have covered up quite as much as it exposed.?° 


Greer County—When the Government exploring expedition of Captain 
Marcy and McClellan traversed Southwestern Oklahoma, in the spring and 
summer of 1852, it did some very effective work, but a serious mistake was 
made in drawing the maps which accompanied its report. This blunder con- 
sisted in locating the 1ooth Meridian (which then as now constituted the 
eastern boundary of the Texas Panhandle) just one degree too far east. This 
made its intersection with the Red River at a point near the mouth of the 
North Fork of the Red River; hence all the lands lying between the Red River 
and the North Fork apparently fell within the territorial dominions of the 
State of Texas. Moreover, the Marcy report habitually referred to the Red 
River, above the mouth of the North Fork, as the Ke-che-ah-que Hono, which 
in the language of the Comanche Indians, meant “Prairie Dog Town River,” 
while its principal tributary from the north in its upper course was always 
called the North Fork of the Red River rather than by its Comanche name, 
which was Mobeeteh Hono, meaning “Walnut River.” Now, by the terms of 
a treaty with Spain in 1819, the 1ooth meridian of longitude west had been 
determined upon as the boundary between the United States and the Spanish 
dominions from the Arkansas River south to the Red River. Of course the 
accidental miscalculation as to the location of the 1ooth Meridian on Marcy’s 
maps could not affect the international boundary which in the course of time 
had come to be a boundary between the State of Texas and the Indian Terri- 
tory, but the substitution of the name of Kecheaque Hono, or Prairie Dog 
Town River, for that of the Red River, made it possible for the State of 


; 9, U.S. Statutes at Large, op. cit., Vol. 29, pp. 868-70. Proclamation for this open- 
ing was issued May 23, 1895, only two days’ notice being given. 

10. The published report of the Senate sub-committee which conducted the investiga- 
tion of the Kickapoo frauds is contained in Senate Document No. 215, 60th Congress, Ist 
Pekyir pete 2,400 pages in three volumes. Kickapoo Reservation, Vol. XXIX, May 

, ’ pp. < . 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 559 


Texas to assert that the meridian boundary line ended at its intersection with 
the channel of the North Fork. The authorities of that state therefore laid 
claim to all the lands lying between the Red River, proper, and the North 
Fork of the Red River. 

In assertion of this claim, the Legislature of the State of Texas created a 
county of the region embraced between the Red River, the North Fork and 
the 100th meridian, which was named Greer, in honor of John A. Greer, who 
was once a Lieutenant-Governor of Texas. But, though it was thus dignified 
by name and bounds, it was destined to remain for a score of years as a part 
of the wilderness of the Great Plains, the grazing ground of the buffalo herds 
and the hunting range of the untamed Comanches and Kiowas. During the 
’seventies it was occasionally visited by white buffalo hunters from the Texas 
frontier, though that was a very hazardous field for such operations, then, as 
the Indians were hostile to all white hunters then found in that region. 

In 1880 and 1881, the first cattlemen began to seek ranges for their stock 
in Greer County, establishing their ranches at places which were conveniently 
near a dependable water supply. Other settlers arrived and located in various 
parts of the county during the course of the next few years. In 1884, the 
Federal Government took cognizance of their presence, President Arthur 
issuing a proclamation warning them against trespass, and in 1885, troops 
were Sent to expel the settlers as intruders.11 They were merely warned to 
leave, however, and none of them paid any attention. Practically all of the 
settlers were from Texas, and they felt assured of the moral support of the 
authorities and people of that State, so the situation was scarcely analogous 
to that of the “boomers” in the Oklahoma country. The order for the expul- 
sion of the settlers was afterward modified as the result of representations 
made the Texas authorities. A year later (August 1, 1886), Greer County 
was formally organized as a county of the State of Texas. 

While the dispute between Texas and the Federal Government as to the 
ownership of Greer County was of long standing, neither party to the con- 
troversy had been in haste to press for a settlement of the same. Bills were 
introduced into Congress at various times to provide for the adjudication of 
the conflicting claims, but nothing ever came of such efforts. Finally, when 
the Organic Act was passed by Congress, in the spring of 1890, one section 
made it mandatory that the Attorney-General of the United States should 
file in the Federal Supreme Court, a suit in equity to determine the long 
standing dispute. There followed several years of careful preparation for the 
trial of the issue. The archives of Mexico and Spain were searched; an elab- 
orate set of copies of old maps was procured and depositions were taken in 
many places both in Texas and Oklahoma. Nearly six years had passed since 
the Organic Act had authorized and directed the beginning of the suit before 
the Supreme Court of the United States rendered its decision in the Greer 
County case, March 16, 1896.1? 

The court of the Forty-sixth Judicial District of Texas was in session at 


11. U. S. Statutes at Large, op. cit., Vol. 23, pp. 835-36. 

12. Testimony of the Greer County case, which was styled United States vs. Texas, was 
taken in 1894, The case was argued before the Supreme Court on October 23, 24, and 25, 
1895, and the decision was handed down nearly five months later. A full text of this deci- 
sion will be found in Supreme Court Reporter, Vol. 16, pp. 725-54. 


560 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Mangum, with the late Justice G. A. Brown, of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, 
then a resident of Vernon, Texas, presiding as district judge, and a trial was 
in progress when a mounted courier arrived from Quanah, Texas, with the 
announcement of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 
Greer County case, which had been handed down the day before. Without 
the formality of adjourning the court, Judge Brown stated that he had no 
jurisdiction in Greer County, and he returned forthwith to Texas.1!% 

John F. Lacey, of Iowa, introduced a bill (H. R. 7905) to establish and 
provide for the government of Greer County, Oklahoma, on April 2, 1896— 
four days after the Supreme Court decision in the Greer County case.1* It 
was reported back with amendments (House Report 1434), on April 21.15 
The next day the bill was debated, further amended and passed.1® It was 
immediately transmitted to the Senate, referred to a committee, which re- 
ported favorably in a short time and, as an emergency measure, was quickly 
adopted, and passed the same day that it had passed the House. It was 
approved by the President, May 4, 1806. 

Representative Jeremiah V. Cockrell, of Texas, had introduced a bill 
(H. R. 7718) to provide for the opening of the Greer County lands to home- 
stead entry under the United States land laws. This bill was referred to the 
House Committee on Public Lands, which reported a substitute measure 
(H. R. 7945). This bill was briefly amended and passed, immediately after 
the passage of the bill to establish and provide for the government of Greer 
County.17 One of the purposes of this bill was to give actual settlers, already 
on the land, a six months’ preference right to any quarter section included 
within the limits of lands so occupied and used by such settlers, such home- 
steads to be free, except for the customary land office fees. Each settler was 
also to have the privilege of purchasing an additional quarter section of land 
at $1.00 per acre.!8 This Greer County Homestead Act also provided for the 
establishing of a government land office at Mangum. It did not come up for 
consideration in the Senate during that session, but was passed by the Senate 
on the 7th of January, 1897, and was approved by the President on the 28th of 
the same month. 

The area thus added to the settled and organized part of Oklahoma was 
larger than either of the states of Delaware and Rhode Island. In addition 
to the present Greer County, it included all of the counties of Harmon and 
Jackson, and also part of Beckham County, which is located south of the 
North Fork of the Red River. 


13. From personal information furnished to the writer (J. B. T.) by the late Justice 
G. A. Brown. 


14. Congressional Record, Vol. XXVIII, p. 3532. The bill was referred to the House 
Committee on Judiciary, which recommended its report with amendments (H. R. 1484) on 
April 21, 1896. 

15. Ibid., p. 4244. 


16. Ibid., pp. 4273-74. The text of the Greer County bill, with amendments, may be 
found on the pages just cited. 


17. Ibid., pp. 4274-76. 


_ 18. The suggestion of including the privilege of purchasing an additional quarter sec- 
tion of land was reputed to have been made by Judson Harmon, who was attorney-general 
in the cabinet of President Cleveland. It is of interest to remark in this connection that 
when a new county, composed of a portion of the former area of Greer County was to be 
formed, it was named Harmon County, at the urgent insistence of pioneer settlers, as a 
mark of their appreciation of Attorney-General Harmon’s thoughtful action in their behalf 


VIEW OF KINGSFISHER, AFTERNOON OF APRIL 22, 1889 
The only Building (on extreme left of picture) is the Government land office. 


fica 
On Ny 


THE BEGINNING OF THE TOWN OF POND CREEK (NOW JEFFERSON), GRANT COUNTY, 
OKLAHOMA 


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OF ] 


: UNIVERSITY OF {LL 01S 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 561 


The Last Great Land Opening—On the 6th of October, 1892, David H. 
Jerome, Alfred M. Wilson and Warren G. Sayre, as commissioners on the 
part of the Government, concluded an agreement with the Indians of the 
Comanche, Kiowa and Plains Apache tribes, whereby the people of those tribes 
were to accept allotments of land in severalty and cede the surplus lands to 
the Government in order that the same might be thrown open to settlement 
under the homestead laws. On the 4th of June, 1891, a similar agreement 
had been entered into with the Indians of the Wichita, Caddo and affiliated 
tribes and bands for a like purpose by the same Government commissioners.!9 
In those days, however, much of the land in both reservations was leased to 
cattlemen, who were naturally very reluctant to quit business. It was evident 
that some if not all of the cattlemen had friends in Congress, as it was nearly 
four years before an act was passed approving the agreement made with the 
Wichitas and affiliated bands and tribes and nearly eight years before the 
Comanche-Kiowa-Apache agreement was similarly ratified by Congress.?° 
Then, even after the Wichita agreement had been duly ratified, the opening 
of its surplus lands to homestead settlement was deferred from year to year 
until the other agreement had been ratified and another year was consumed 
ie safe before the opening proclamation was issued by President Mc- 

inley. 

Allotments were made and the two reservations were resurveyed, many 
of the marks of the original surveys (made nearly thirty years before) having 
disappeared. The Fort Sill military reservation was enlarged?! and a forest 
reservation in the heart of the Wichita Mountain range was reserved from 
settlement.22 Pasture reservations aggregating 500,000 acres were also with- 
held from the homestead entry—ostensibly for the benefit of the Indians, but 
really as an act of accommodation to favored cattlemen. At last, on the one 
hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of 
American Independence, President McKinley issued a proclamation giving 
due notice that the surplus lands of the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache and the 
Wichita-Caddo Indian reservations should be thrown open to homestead 
settlement on and after the 6th day of August, 1901,?3 and prescribing the 
rules and regulations for the government of such proceedings. These rules 
and regulations differed radically from any of those which had been adopted 
or used in preceding land openings. 


Distribution of Homestead Privileges by Lot—In order to prevent the 
disorders which had attended former land openings, the new rules drawn up 


19. The Wichita-Caddo agreement was ratified by an act of Congress, approved March 
2, 1895. U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 28, pp. 794-99. 

20. The Comanche-Kiowa-Apache agreement was ratified by an act approved June 6, 
1900. U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 31, pp. 676-81. 

21. A statement concerning the establishment of the Wichita Mountain Forest Reserve 
and its subsequent development as a game preserve will be found in Appendix XLIII-4. 

22. For an account of the enlargement of the Fort Sill Military Reservation, its pur- 
poses and ultimate results also, see Appendix XLIII-5. 

23. The text of the President’s proclamation for the opening of the Comanche and 
Kiowa country and the Wichita-Caddo country may be found in U. S. Statutes at Large, 
Vol. 32, pp. 1973-81. 


Okla—36 


562 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


- 


by the Secretary of the Interior, and included in the executive proclamation, 
directed that all persons desiring to take up homesteads on the surplus lands 
of either reservation should be allowed to register; that the names so regis- 
tered should be written on cards and enclosed in envelopes, which envelopes 
were to be thoroughly shuffled and then drawn out and numbered, the appli- 
cants to be permitted to file in turn on homestead claims at the district land 
offices in the order that their names were thus drawn. Thus, at last, it was 
hoped and believed that the “sooner” was effectually circumvented. 

Two new land districts were created, with offices at El Reno and at Law- 
ton, and all registration had to be done at one or the other of these two 
places; though any person could register for either district or reservation at 
either land office, no one was permitted to register for a chance in both. The 
offices were opened for registration on July 9 and the drawing began August 
6. The work of shuffling and drawing the envelopes was all done at El Reno. 
With about 16,000 quarter sections subject to homestead entry, there were 
ten times that many registrations, so interest was keyed up to a high pitch 
when the day arrived for the beginning of the great “land lottery,” as it was 
called. In the meantime, El Reno had been about the busiest place in the 
whole country. Every incoming train was crowded. Several registration 
offices had to be provided. Numerous notaries did a thriving business in fill- 
ing out and certifying to registration applications. The center of the principal 
business streets was leased out to booths and refreshment stands. Gamblers 
and sharpers plied their wiles and fleeced the unwary. Land office officials had 
a small army of clerks and assistants on hand. Many were the expedients 
resorted to in order to make money. Certain self-appointed persons (doubt- 
less with the connivance of land office clerks) charged the people ten cents 
apiece for forming them in line at the registration offices and most people 
laughed as they paid it, even though they knew it was a species of petty 
extortion. While it has been asserted that there was some sleight of hand 
performance by which the sealed envelopes of several favored ones were 
slipped into the drawing for the first two or three days, there were no grounds 
for it beyond a vague suspicion and, on the whole, the system gave much less 
grounds for complaint than any that had been tried before. 


Three New Counties—Three new counties, designated as Caddo, Coman- 
che and Kiowa, were added to the organized portion of the Territory as the 
result of the opening of these reservations. The townsites of their county 
seats were reserved from entry, were surveyed and platted, and the lots were 
sold at auction to the highest bidders, the Government devoting the proceeds 
to public improvements and other public purposes for the towns and counties 
—such as the erection of courthouses, waterworks, bridges, schoolhouses, etc. 

The pasture reservations, for the segregation of which there had been 
much just criticism, were thrown open to settlement five years after the 
opening of the reservations, the land being placed on the market and sold to 
the highest bidders. Thus, excepting only the reservations of the Osage, 
Kansas, Ponca and Otoe-Missouri tribes of Indians, all of the unallotted lands 
of Oklahoma Territory were finally thrown open to settlement.24 


24. U. S. Statutes at Large, op. cit., Vol. 34, pp. 213-14, 


CHAPTER XLIV 


POLITICAL AFFAIRS IN OKLAHOMA TERRITORY 


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CHAPTER XLIV. 
POLITICAL AFFAIRS IN OKLAHOMA TERRITORY. 


When both houses of the Legislative Assembly were finally organized 
after all this preliminary jockeying and maneuvering, there was manifest a 
feeling of tension that boded no good for other work of the session. On the 
2d of September, James L. Brown, member of the Council from Oklahoma 
Sie introduced the following bill, which was designated as Council Bill 

On7: 


Aw Act To LocaTE AND EsTABLISH THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY OF OKLAHOMA. 
Be lt Enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of Oklahoma: : 

SECTION I. That the seat of government of the Territory of Oklahoma be and the same is 
hereby located and established at Oklahoma City, in the said Territory of Oklahoma. 

SECTION 2. That the offices of the executive officers of said Territory of Oklahoma shall 
be removed from Guthrie to Oklahoma City, and the seat of government there located and 
established between the first and fifteenth days of February, A. D. 1891, until which time they 
shall be and remain at Guthrie, in said Territory. 

SECTION 3. That the first session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Okla- 
homa convened after February first, 1891, shall assemble at Oklahoma City, at such time as 
may be provided by law. 

SecTIon 4. If the Supreme Court of the Territory of Oklahoma be, on February first, 
1891, holding a term, that term shall be completed at Guthrie, and when adjourned, its offices 
shall be removed to Oklahoma City, and all future sessions of that court shall be held at Okla- 
homa City. If the said court is not in session on February first, 1891, its offices shall be removed 
at the same time the executive offices are removed. All matters pending before that court shall 
be transferred to Oklahoma City, and there proceeded with, with like force and effect as 
though the seat of government of said Territory had remained at Guthrie. 

SECTION 5. If from any cause the removal of said offices be delayed beyond February 
eighth, 1891, they shall be transferred as soon as the cause of the delay is removed. 

Section 6. On January fifth, 1891, or within five days thereafter, the Governor shall issue 
and publish his proclamation giving notice that the seat of government shall be so removed, 
of which all persons shall take due notice. 

SECTION 7. ‘This act shall be in force from and after the adjournment of the present term 
of this Legislative Assembly. 


President Gardenhire, of the Council, who represented a Payne County 
constituency, introduced a bill (Council Bill No. 32) locating the proposed 
Territorial Agricultural College in that county. All interest in anything other 
than the capital location measure seemed to be lacking, however, and two 
weeks passed with little or nothing in the way of legislative achievement. On 
the 16th of September, the capital location bill came up for consideration in 
the Council and, after debate, was passed by a vote of seven to six. Thence 
the measure went to the House of Representatives, where it was referred to a 
committee. The bill slept in the committee’s hands for two weeks, during 
which time there was much caucusing and counseling on the part of both fac- 
tions. On the Ist of October, it was called up, amended, and passed by a vote 
of fourteen to twelve. The Council concurred in the House amendment the 
next day and then the bill went to the Governor. 


566 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Governor Steele had ten days in which to consider the matter before approv- 
ing or disapproving the measure, and he availed himself of the full time thus 
allowed. The events which occurred in legislative circles during that interval 
were not at all creditable to either the supporters or the opponents of the capi- 
tal removal measure. Schemes. plots, counter-plots and intrigues, many of 
which were of the most despicable and disgraceful character, followed one 
another in rapid succession. Governor Steele listened to the arguments and 
representations of both sides, but did not commit himself in a message to the 
Legislative Assembly until the time allowed by law for executive considera- 
tion had nearly expired. As time wore on, interest in the probable attitude 
and action of the Governor developed into a feeling of feverish anxiety. 
Although both houses of the Legislative Assembly were nominally in session, 
they each ceased to make even a pretense of transacting any business. The 
lobbies were crowded with an eager, expectant throng of people, waiting in 
almost breathless silence for the words of the Governor’s message—words 
which, in the over-wrought imagination of the hour, were supposed to be 
freighted with fate for the two aspiring rival communities, aye, words which, 
by many on both sides, were supposed to be filled with the promise of certain 
prosperity and greatness to the favored town, while the same words were 
supposed to be equally prophetic of the doom and decadence of the defeated 
town, so short-sighted is human judgment in the heat of passionate conflict! 

It was in the middle of the afternoon of the 13th of October, when the fol- 
lowing message from the Governor of the Territory was received and read in 
the Legislative Assembly :1 


TERRITORY OF OKLAHOMA, ExEcuTIvE OFFick, GUTHRIE, October 13, 1890. 
To the Honorable President of the Council, Territorial Legislature: 


I have the honor to return herewith Council bill number seven, presented to me for my 
concurrence, and shall not stop to decide which of these two sections, Ist or 2d, really is 
intended to locate the capital; nor call particular attention to section four, which, it seems to 
me, takes broad ground in dealing with the Supreme Court; nor to remark the oversight in not 
amending section five to make it conform to section one; neither shall I take time to remark on 
the enacting clause, or as to whether the bill before me is the bill which passed the House; for, 
with reference to the first proposition, the very industrious and able Councilor from Oklahoma 
has presented authorities which to my mind support the legality of the enacting clause. On the 
second proposition, it is clear to my mind that the bill was duly compared by as many members 
of the enrolling committee as are usually present when bills are compared, and that the enrolled 
copy, known as the “Daniels Bill,” was duly compared with the bill which passed both houses, 
was properly engrossed, found to be correct, and was taken to the House by a member of said 
committee, and a verbal report made the Speaker, who signed the bill, passed it to the clerk of 
the House for signature, who also certified to its correctness and handed it back to the Speaker; 
then came the unusual proceedings of the Speaker handing the bill back to the member of the 
enrolling committee before mentioned, who hastily proceeded to the Council chamber, and found 
Council had adjourned. Upon reflection, I suppose it was concluded that the House adjourned 
or was adjourning when the Speaker signed the bill; that a motion was pending making a 
reconsideration of the vote and passage of the bill, and that the bill was not regularly out of 
the committee on enrolled bills, because no report had been prepared as rules required. 

However, the bill went from the member of the House committee on enrolled bills (who 
had reported it as correct to Speaker Daniels) to a member of the Council committee on 
enrolled bills; and if adjournment had not been unusually early on that day and he had made 


1. Journal of the First Legislative Assembly of Oklahoma Territory, pp. 291-93. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 567 


a verbal report to the Council, the same as had been made to the House, and the president had 
affixed his signature thereto, it is not likely the legality of the proceedings would have been 
questioned by the friends of the bill. 

The following morning, however, upon an announcement by Speaker Daniels that he had 
inadvertently signed the bill, and requesting its return, the House passed a resolution requesting 
the Council to return the bill, with a view to permitting him to erase his signature therefrom, 
which resolution was not acted upon by the Council. The chief clerk of that honorable body 
directed the enrolling clerk to make a new copy, which was done, and the joint committee on 
enrolled bills reported it favorably to the respective houses as being a correct copy of the 
engrossed bill, and said bill was permitted to go through both houses without serious opposi- 
tion, and my opinion is it is not defective in that particular. 

It is claimed by able Councillors and Representatives that the Governor should do some 
affirmative act in the matter of locating or relocating the capital, but have presented no authori- 
ties to sustain this view, nor have I been able to learn if there has ever been a decision directly 
bearing on the question; for in the Dakota case presented by the honorable Councillor from 
Oklahoma, the Governor had approved a bill for the delegation of the authority possessed by 
the Governor to the legislative assembly, or to a commission; but there is no question in my 
mind as to the legality of a location where a bill is passed in regular order and concurred in. 

It is not my province to hearken to the reports of there having been formed a combination 
at the opening of your session by which certain officers were elected in the consideration of 
votes being influenced favorably to the proposed site, yet, could I be certain the editorial in 
the “Norman Advance” emanated from the honorable Councilor, its reputed editor, there would 
seem to be ground for the rumor. 

It may not be improper for me to recur to my special communication to your honorable 
body on September 17th, transmitting a copy of the law in reference to the agricultural college, 
urging that in locating the various necessary institutions, opportunity be given by competition 
to localities desiring them; donations and other advantages peculiar should be considered and 
the taxpayers of communities receiving no direct benefit correspondingly relieved. 

Section fifteen of the organic act declares that “the Legislative Assembly of the Territory 
of Oklahoma shall hold its first session at Guthrie, in said Territory, at such time as the Gov- 
ernor shall appoint and direct; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall 
deem expedient, the Governor and Legislative Assembly shall proceed to locate and establish 
the seat of government of said Territory at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, 
however, shall thereafter be subject to change by the said Governor and Legislative Assembly.” 

I need not say to the honorable Councilors and Members that “locate and establish” in the 
foregoing section is to adovt or form a fixed residence, to make steadfast, to settle firmly, to fix. 

The bill does not, it seems to me, pretend to establish a permanent location for the capital 
by either donations of money or land, as has been done in every instance so far as I have been 
able to learn where capitals have been “located and established.” 

It is not urged that the proposed location is more healthful or nearer the center of 
population. 

In this bill no arrangement is made for offices for the various officers of the Territory, nor 
halls for the Legislature, nor is any one designated or authorized to do so. 

It is my sincere hope and belief that large areas of territory will be added to what we now 
have before the date fixed in the bill for removal, in consequence of which the center of popu- 
lation may be materially changed, and thereby furnish better reason than it seems to me are now 
presented for changing the present temporary site. 

In consequence of all of which I must return Council bill number seven without my 
approval. Gro. W. STEELE, Governor. 


Although it dealt with a question of what seemed to be momentous inter- 
est to many of the inhabitants of the young Commonwealth, Governor Steele’s 
veto message can scarcely be rated as a great state paper. A temporary politi- 
cal sojourner in the Territory himself, the tone of contentiousness was so 
manifest in his message as to more than neutralize any effort to appear impar- 
tial. Yet it may well be doubted if it could have been otherwise if the capital 
location measure had received his official sanction and approval, but regard- 


568 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


less of how sincere his convictions or how disinterested his action, he was 
bound to incur the displeasure if not the enmity of a large part of the people of 
Oklahoma, no matter which horn of the dilemna he might choose. Indeed, 
fate would doubtless have been equally unkind to any man who happened to 
be filling the office of Governor of the Territory of Oklahoma just at that time. 

Brief as was the period between the convening of the Legislative Assembly 
and the passage of the measure for the location of the capital, it was long 
enough for Oklahoma City—Payne County combination to break. When 
President Gardenhire, of the Council, wanted to make his bill for the location 
of the Agricultural College a special order for the first of October, and the 
Oklahoma City contingent refused, he repudiated the agreement and voted 
against the Council concurrence with the House amendment to the capital loca- 
tion bill. Fortunately for the Oklahoma City leaders, they were enabled to induce 
one of the opposition members of the Council (C. F. Grimmer, of Beaver 
County) to come to their aid and thus save the bill. Nor was the Guthrie- 
Kingfisher combination any more stable or enduring. 

There was a great deal of parliamentary “horse-play” in the sessions of 
the Legislative Assembly, much time being wasted on trivial motions and 
unnecessary roll calls. The following minutes of the proceedings of the House 
of Representatives on the afternoon of October 15, 1890 (the fiftieth day of the 
session), serves to illustrate the manner in which time was wasted by such 


tactics :” 


Roll call; all present except Colson and Long. 

By Robertson—House Bill No. 46. An act to provide for taking up domestic animals and 
strays. Read and referred to Committee on Agriculture. 

By Trosper—House Bill No. 47. A bill to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic 
liquors in the Territory of Oklahoma, except for medical, scientific and mechanic purposes, and 
to regulate the manufacture and sale thereof for such purposes. Read and referred to the Com- 
mittee on Liquor Traffic. 

By Waggoner—House Bill No. 48. An act regulating foreign insurance companies trans- 
acting business in the Territory of Oklahoma. Read and referred to the Committee on 
Insurance. 

By Mr. Campbell—House Resolution No. 17. 

Resolved, By the House of Representatives of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory 
of Oklahoma: 

Ist. That all action on questions involving county seats and county lines, the capital removal 
and the location of public institutions are hereby postponed until after the 15th day of Novem- 
ber, A. D. 1890. 

2d. That the above order of the House can only be changed or rescinded by a vote of two- 
thirds of the members thereof. 

Mr. Campbell moved to adopt the resolution. 

Mr. Post moved to lay the resolution on the table. 

Roll call being called, there were eleven ayes and thirteen nays. ‘Those voting in the 
affirmative were: Farnsworth, Jones, Neal, Pack, Peery, Post, Stovall, Talbot, Terrill, Tros- 
per, Waggoner. Those voting in the negative were: Adair, Barker, Campbell, Clark, Currin, 
Lewis, Mathews, Mertens, Robertson, Smith, Tritt, Wimberly, Mr. Speaker (Daniels). So the 
motion failed. 

Mr. Currin moved to reconsider the vote by which the motion to lay the motion to adopt the 
resolution on the table was lost. The Chair ruled the motion out of order. Mr. Currin appealed 


2. Journal of the First Session of the Legislative Assembly of Oklahoma Territory, 
Vol. I, pp. 307-09. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 569 


from the decision of the Chair. The roll being called, there were seven in favor and sixteen 
against sustaining the Chair. The roll being called, those voting in the affirmative were: 
Barker, Campbell, Clark, Lewis, Robertson, Smith, Wimberly. Those voting in the negative 
were: Adair, Currin, Farnsworth, Jones, Mathews, Neal, Pack, Peery, Post, Stovall, Talbot, 
Terrill, Tritt, Trosper, Waggoner, Mr. Speaker. So the Chair was not sustained. 

The roll being called on the motion to reconsider there were: Ayes, twelve, nays, twelve. 
Those voting in the affirmative were: Currin, Farnsworth, Jones, Mathews, Neal, Pack, Peery, 
Post, Stovall, Talbot, Trosper, Waggoner. Those voting in the negative were: Adair, Barker, 
Campbell, Clark, Lewis, Merten, Robertson, Smith, Terrill, Tritt, Wimberly, Mr. Speaker. So 
the motion failed. 

Mr. Waggoner moved the following amendment : 

3d. That it shall take a two-thirds vote of all the members of the House to adopt this 
resolution. 

Which was ruled out of order. Mr. Jones appealed from the decision of the Chair. The 
roll being called on the question, shall the decision of the Chair be sustained? there were: Ayes, 
eleven; nayes, twelve. Those voting in the affirmative were: Adair, Barker, Campbell, Clark, 
Lewis, Robertson, Smith, Terrill, Tritt, Mr. Speaker. Those voting in the negative were: 
Currin, Farnsworth, Jones, Mathews, Neal, Pack, Peery, Post, Stovall, Talbot, Trosper, Wag- 
goner. So the Chair was not sustained. 

The roll being called on the adoption of the amendment, there were: Ayes, eleven; nays, 
twelve. Those voting in the affirmative were: Currin, Farnsworth, Jones, Mathews, Neal, 
Pack, Peery, Stovall, Talbot, Trosper, Waggoner. Those voting in the negative were: Adair, 
Barker, Campbell, Clark, Lewis, Merten, Post, Robertson, Smith, Terrill, Tritt, Wimberly, 
Mr. Speaker. So the amendment failed. 

Mr. Currin moved to reconsider the vote by which the amendment failed. The roll being 
called there were twelve ayes and twelve nays. Those voting in the affirmative were: Currin, 
Farnsworth, Jones, Mathews, Neal, Pack, Peery, Post, Stovall, Talbot, Trosper, Waggoner. 
Those voting in the negative were: Adair, Barker, Campbell, Clark, Lewis, Merten, Robertson, 
Smith, Terrill, Tritt, Wimberly, Mr. Speaker. So the motion failed. 

Mr. Campbell moved to the previous question. The roll being called, there were eleven 
ayes and thirteen nays. Those voting in affirmative were: Adair, Barker, Campbell, Clark, 
Lewis, Merten, Robertson, Smith, Terrill, Tritt, Wimberly. Those voting in the negative were: 
Currin, Farnsworth, Jones, Mathews, Neal, Pack, Peery, Post, Stovall, Talbot, Trosper, Wag- 
goner. So the motion failed and the previous question was not ordered. 

Mr. Post moved to adjourn. The roll being called, there were fifteen ayes and nine nays. 
Those voting in the affirmative were: Adair, Currin, Farnsworth, Mathews, Neal, Pack, 
Peery, Post, Stovall, Talbot, Tritt, Trosper, Waggoner, Wimberly. Those voting in the nega- 
tive were: Barker, Campbell, Clark, Lewis, Merten, Robertson, Smith, Terrill, Mr. Speaker. 
So the House adjourned. E. L. Gay, Chief Clerk. 


On the morning of the 16th of October—three days after the veto of the bill 
for the location of the capital of the Territory at Oklahoma City, by Governor 
Steele—Representative J. C. Post, of Kingfisher, moved a suspension of the 
rules to enable him to introduce a bill. After much parliamentary sparring, 
including motions to table, to reconsider lost motions, to adjourn, etc., the 
previous question was ordered and Mr. Post introduced House Bill No. 4g, 
entitled “An act to locate and establish the seat of government of the Terri- 
tory of Oklahoma and providing for the erection of capitol buildings and for 
temporary offices.” Mr. Post then moved that the bill be read a second and a 
third time and placed upon its passage. Motion to lay the bill on the table, to 
divide the question, to substitute, to adjourn, to reject the bill, etc., followed 
each other in rapid succession, with roll calls on each, and thus matters stood 
at the end of the forenoon session. 

When the House reassembled in the afternoon, the struggle was resumed, 


570 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


with obstructive motions, points of order and movements to adjourn still con- 
tinued. It was finally brought to a vote, just before the end of the afternoon 
session, the vote standing twelve for the passage and eleven against, with 
three members absent or not voting, thus failing the passage for lack of a 
constitutional majority. On the next day, however, the bill was again called 
up and, after protracted maneuvering on the part of the opposition, was passed 
by a vote of fourteen for, to one against, ten members present and not voting 
and one member absent. The purpose of House Bill No. 49, was to locate the 
capital of the Territory at the town of Kingfisher. Incidentally, it should be 
stated that the Guthrie-Kingfisher legislative combination had gone to pieces 
and the partisans of Guthrie found it necessary to effect a new alignment in 
order to hold the capital. But, though the new capital location measure was 
seemingly in the interest of Kingfisher, the fight was not between Kingfisher 
and Guthrie, but between Guthrie and Oklahoma City—the hand was the 
hand of Esau (Kingfisher), but the voice was the voice of Jacob (Oklahoma 
City), and not until twenty years later was the rivalry, thus engendered, to be 
finally settled by vote of the people. 

In the Council, House Bill No. 49 not only encountered the usual amount 
of parliamentary obstructive tactics, but was also amended in a number of its 
details. The measure was finally brought to a vote and was passed by a vote 
of nine to four, October 24. In order to make it safe from interference, a 
motion was made by one of the majority (James L. Brown, of Oklahoma 
City) to reconsider, the mover immediately entering another motion to lay 
the motion to reconsider on the table. When one of the opposition members 
(John Foster, of Logan County) gave notice that on the next day he would 
move a reconsideration of the vote by which the motion to reconsider the bill 
had been tabled, Mr. Brown, of Oklahoma City, immediately moved a recon- 
sideration of the motion to table the motion to reconsider the bill, which was 
promptly defeated by the majority, including the mover of the motion. When 
the amended bill was returned to the House it again had to run the gauntlet of 
obstructive parliamentary tactics, but the House voted, fifteen to ten, to 
concur in the Council amendments, November Io. 

Although the measure thus passed for the purpose of locating the capital 
of the territory at Kingfisher had been framed with a view to meeting the 
objections set forth by Governor Steele in his disapproval of the previous 
capital location bill, he vetoed it also, the following being a copy of his 
message: 


‘ GutHriz, November 18, 1890. 

To the Speaker, House of Representatives, Territorial Legislature: 

I think a fair construction of Section 15 of the Organic Act which recites as follows: 

Section 15. That the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Oklahoma shall hold its 
first session at Guthrie, in said Territory, at such time as the Governor thereof shall appoint 
and direct; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the 
Governor and the Legislative Assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of gov- 
ernment for said Territory at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, however, shall 
thereafter be subject to be changed by the said Governor and Legislative Assembly, 
_ Justifies the conclusion that the Governor may consult with the Legislative Assembly rela- 
tive to a measure looking to the establishment of a seat of government of the Territory and 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE S71 


with this in view and the hope of opening the way to necessary legislation, I return herewith 
House Bill No. 49 with the following suggestions and recommendations : 

First—That the date of its passage by the House, as certified to by its chief clerk, be cor- 
rected, for, while no cause for trouble or litigation may arise, it does not seem proper for the 
executive to be called upon to approve a bill which is certified to have passed three or four 
days after it has been presented to him. 

Second—Why not leave it optional with the Commissioners as to which of the two tracts 
of land proposed to be donated in Section 1, the capitol building shall be erected upon; if not, 
it would seem better to leave it to the Commissioners as to whether or not it is for the best 
interests of the Territory to survey, plat and sell the one hundred and sixty acres one mile from 
oy Village of [or] the City of Kingfisher or accept it at all, so much depending upon the 
ocation. 

Third—There should be a limit fixed as to the amount the capitol building shall cost (it is 
provided in Section 15 the Commissioners may secure, approve plans, and contract for the erec- 
tion of), not only for the guidance of the Commissioners, but with a view to insuring the people 
of the Territory against extravagant expenditure. 

Fourth—While it is not likely there will be any failure on the part of the citizens of King- 
fisher County to comply with the terms imposed by the Bill in order for it to become a law, it 
occurs to me that it would be as well to insert as a saving clause, a proviso to Section 7 
something like the following: 

Provided, That the terms and conditions of this act are compiled with, otherwise such 
temporary seat of government as the Governor may deem proper. 

After the failure on the part of the Legislative Assembly to act upon my suggestions twice 
expressed, to authorize the appointment of a Commission to locate the various institutions after 
fair competition, I do not think it worth while to again suggest it by asking that the scope of 
the Commission provided for in this Bill be extended with a view to knowing if better terms 
with as good location, could be secured. 

I hope the suggestions I have made, however, may be acted upon as promptly as is con- 
venient and the Bill returned to me for my further consideration and action. I would have it 
understood that I am only trying to have amendments made which I deem are of importance 
and which I think may with propriety be done under the provisions of Section 15 before 
referred to; and it may not be improper for me to remind your Honorable Bodies that a pre- 
cedent permitting the Executive to returns Bills for correction has been established at the 
present session of the Assembly if there was no better reason therefor. 


Very respectfully, 
Gro. W. STEELE, Governor of Territory. 


The vetoing of the second capital location bill came comparatively late in 
the session, and much other business had accumulated, and the fact that it was 
generally believed that some pretext would be found by the Governor for 
vetoing any measure that proposed to locate the capital at any point other 
than Guthrie, put an end to further efforts in that line at that time. The peo- 
ple of Kingfisher were even more embittered against the Governor than were 
the people of Oklahoma City after the vetoing of the first capital location bill. 

Before the election of the next Legislative Assembly, through the opening 
of the Sac and Fox, lowa, Pottawatomie-Shawnee, and Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
Indian reservations to settlement, eight new counties had been added to the 
Territory of Oklahoma. In consequence of this, by act of Congress approved 
in 1892, provision was made for the appointment of a commission to reappor- 
tion the legislative representation among the several counties. While this bill 
was under consideration in Congress, it was amended (no doubt at the insti- 
gation of Guthrie influences) by the addition of a provision which prohibited 
the Legislative Assembly of the Territory from locating the capital of the 
Territory. Similar prohibitions were subsequently embodied in Congressional 


572 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


appropriations for the expenses of the Territorial Legislative Assembly, 
together with the further stipulation that the Assembly was specifically for- 
bidden to make any appropriation for the erection of a capital building. 


Location and Establishment of Educational Institutions—Although bills 
were introduced for the location and establishment of several educational insti- 
tutions early in the legislative session, they were held back and used more 
or less by both sides in attempts to influence the result in the struggle over 
the location of the capital. At one time, an effort was made to placate the 
leaders of the Oklahoma City combination by a suggestion to the effect that, 
if Oklahoma City would consent to let the territorial capital remain at Guthrie, 
an arrangement might be made whereby the university, the agricultural col- 
lege and the normal school should be combined in one institution and located 
at Oklahoma City. This proposition was favorably regarded by some of the 
ablest leaders of the Oklahoma City combination, but others scouted the sug- 
gestion of such a concession and the overture thus made was rejected. Before 
its adjournment the Legislative Assembly passed acts locating and establish- 
ing the university at Norman, the agricultural college at Stillwater, and the 
normal school at Edmond, though the territory then had less than 70,000 
inhabitants. Thus was established the precedent for the multiplicity of State 
institutions of learning which has long since given the present State of Okla- 
homa a most unique reputation. Had Oklahoma City accepted the overture 
from the Guthrie leaders, namely, to drop the capital fight and take the com- 
bined educational institutions instead, the educational history of the State 
might have read very differently from what it is. 

The feeling between the Governor and the majority of the members of the 
Legislative Assembly was never cordial. The former had some pet projects 
upon the passage of which he insisted. His scheme of having the public insti- 
tutions located by a commission, all towns to be free to compete, was not 
viewed with favor, for very obvious reasons. Being a man of extended mili- 
tary experience himself, he was insistent upon the passage of a bill for the 
organization and equipment of the militia of the Territory, though there was 
no urgent necessity for it at the time and it was currently reported that he 
resorted to the promises of patronage in order to secure its passage. 

Though the Republican party exhibited substantial strength in the first 
election, which was held for the purpose of choosing members of the two 
houses of the Legislative Assembly, it was not able to so organize as to avail 
itself of the advantage thus offered. The first regular election held in the 
Territory was November 4, 1890. The Democratic Territorial convention 
met at Norman, October 9, and nominated James L. Matthews, of Payne 
County, for delegate to Congress for the short term (i. e., the remainder of 
the Fifty-first Congress) and Joseph G. McCoy, of El Reno, for delegate to 
Congress for the long term (i. e. the Fifty-second Congress). The Republican 
Territorial Convention was held at Guthrie, October 18. It nominated David 
A. Harvey, of Oklahoma City, for the full term of the Fifty-second Congress 
and also for the unexpired portion of the Fifty-first Congress. The election 


CHOCTAW FEMALE SEMINARY, WEST OF TUSKAHOMA, 1892 


F ILLINOIS 


aes i hee tt . 
thal A 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 573 


resulted in the choice of Mr. Harvey by a plurality of 2,000 votes. County 
officers were also chosen at the same election. 

When the time for the beginning of the political campaign of 1892 arrived, 
Oklahoma had grown measurably, Lincoln, Pottawatomie, Blaine, Custer, 
Dewey, Day, Roger Mills and Washita counties having been added and the 
bounds of Logan, Payne, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Canadian and Kingfisher 
counties had been extended as well, as the result of the opening of the several 
Indian reservations in September, 1891, and April, 1892. 

Governor Steele having tendered his resignation, to take effect upon the 
appointment of his successor, President Harrison appointed Associate Justice 
A. J. Seay, of the Territorial Supreme Court, as Governor of the Territory of 
Oklahoma, October 18, 1891. Governor Seay immediately assumed the duties 
of his new position.* 

In 1892, Oklahoma was represented for the first time in the national poli- 

-cal party conventions called for the purpose of nominating candidates for 
President and Vice-President. Each party held two conventions in the ter- 
ritory—one in the spring for the selection of delegates to the national con- 
vention and another several months later for the purpose of choosing a candi- 
date for territorial delegate to Congress. The Republican convention for the 
nomination of a candidate for delegate to Congress was held at Guthrie, July 
14. Dennis T. Flynn, of Guthrie, defeated Delegate Harvey, who was a can- 
didate for renomination. The Democratic convention, held at Oklahoma City, 
August 17, placed O. H. Travis, of Oklahoma City, in nomination for dele- 
gate to Congress. The People’s party also placed a nominee in the field in 
the person of N. H. Ward. 


3. David A. Harvey was born at Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, March 20, 1845. His parents 
emigrated from Canada when he was six weeks old, settling in Ohio. At the age of six- 
teen, he enlisted in the 4th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and was discharged from military serv- 
ice at the end of the war, after having served continuously for three and one-half years. 
After attending the sessions of Miami University for a time, he studied law and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1869. Moving westward, he settled in Topeka, Kansas, where he engaged 
in the practice of law, served as city attorney and as probate judge. He became interested 
in the Oklahoma movement and was active in the agitation for the opening of the Okla- 
homa country to settlement. He was among the pioneers who came into the country on 
the day of the opening, locating at Oklahoma City, April 22, 1889. He was nominated for 
delegate to Congress by the Territorial Republican Convention, at Guthrie, October 18, 
1890, and, on November 4 he was elected to serve both the long and short terms, taking 
his seat when the 51st Congress reconvened, in December, 1890, and serving until the final 
adjournment of the 52d Congress, March 3, 1893. Mr. Harvey subsequently located at Wyan- 
dotte, where he died May 23, 1916. 


4, Abraham Jefferson Seay was born near Lynchburg, Virginia, November 28, 1832. 
When he was three years old his parents moved to Missouri, settling in Osage County. His 
early life was not materially different from that of the sons of other pioneer families of the 
period. He attended the neighborhood schools, attended an academy at Steelville, read 
law and was admitted to the bar in April, 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil War he 
promptly enlisted in the volunteer military service and was soon commissioned a lieuten- 
ant. He was in the active service throughout the war and was mustered out at its close 
with the rank of major. He then took up the practice of law. He was always active in 
political affairs and was frequently nominated, as a Republican, for various local and state 
offices and for representative in Congress. He served as district judge of the Ninth Mis- 
souri District for twelve years. After the passage of the Oklahoma Organic Act, he was 
appointed by President Harrison as an associate justice of the Territorial Supreme Court, 
which position he held at the time of his appointment as Governor of the Territory. After 
his retirement from official life, Governor Seay took up his residence at Kingfisher, where 
he lived for many years. His personality was picturesque and unique and many are the 
anecdotes of his deeds and sayings that still live after most of the men and events of the 
pioneer period have been forgotten. He died in California, December 22, 1915, and was 
buried at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, 


574 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


The election resulted in the choice of Dennis T. Flynn for delegate to 
Congress. The House of Representatives stood, Republicans, 13; Democrats, 
9g; Populists, 4. The Republicans secured six seats in the council; the oppo- 
sition had seven. In the organization of the House, seven days were con- 
sumed in fruitless balloting for the election of a speaker. On the eighth day, 
and the one hundred and forty-ninth ballot, M. L. Stanley, a Republican rep- 
resentative from the Seventh District, cast his vote with the combined oppo- 
sition (Democrat and Populist) for the election of Thomas R. Waggoner for 
the speakership, thus breaking the deadlock. In doing so, Mr. Stanley ex- 
plained his reason for such a course.® 

The next day, when the “Journal” was read, objection was made to the 
inclusion of Mr. Stanley’s explanation, and a motion was made to expunge it 
from the record. The motion was defeated, though not by a party vote. 
Similar deadlocks had to be broken in the election of other House officers and 
employees, though these were not so protracted. The work of the Second 
Legislative Assembly was not distinguished for achievements other than the 
usual round of statutes of minor importance. This session was held during 
the months of January, February and March, 1893. 

Two months after the beginning of the second administration of President 
Grover Cleveland, Governor Seay was removed from office and William C. 
Renfrow, of Norman, Oklahoma, was appointed to fill the vacancy thus 
created.6 The newly appointed chief executive immediately assumed the 
duties of his position. 

The first political party conventions were held in the Indian Territory in 
1892. The Republican convention was held at McAlester, on the 23d of May. 
It was not largely attended. The Democratic convention was held at Musko- 
gee, on the 11th of June. Among its resolutions was one which demanded 
that the Indian Territory should have a delegate in Congress. This proposi- 
tion was the subject of considerable discussion thereafter and resulted in the 
calling of a second Democratic convention at Muskogee, October 5, follow- 
ing. After due consideration, it was decided not to try to elect a delegate 
without authority or sanction of Congress. Robert L. Owen was chosen as 
the Indian Territory member of the National Democratic Committee. 

In a convention held at Oklahoma City, May 15, 1894, the Republican 
party of the territory renominated Dennis T. Flynn’ for delegate to Congress. 


5. Mr. Stanley gave his reason for changing his vote as follows: ‘I wish to give as 
my reason for this, the fact that the House has taken one hundred and forty-eight ballots 
and no chairman has been elected. I believe it is a fact that my constituents did not send 
me here to spend the entire session in electing a Speaker, and, therefore, I feel that they 
will bear me out in the action I am about to take. For that reason, I will cast my vote for 
Mr. Waggoner.” 


6. William Cary Renfrow was born at Smithfield, North Carolina, March 15, 1845. He 
was educated in the common schools but left school to enter the Confederate Army. In 
1865, he moved to Arkansas, where he lived until the opening of the Oklahoma country to 
settlement, when he moved to Norman, where he engaged in the banking business. He 
served as Governor of Oklahoma from May 7, 1893, to May 24, 1897. After retiring from 
office, Governor Renfrow was largely interested in mining operations in the lead and zinc 
district in Southwestern Missouri. Prior to his death, January 3, 1922, at Miami, Okla- 
homa, he made his home in Kansas City, Missouri. 


7. Dennis T. Flynn was born at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, in 1861. He was educated 


at Buffalo, New York, where he studied law. After his admission to the bar, he settled at 
Riverside, Iowa, where he resided for a short time. In 1884, he again migrated, locating at 


ABRAHAM J. SEAY 
1891-93 


at 


oe a 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 575 


The Territorial Democratic Convention was held at El Reno, August 1. It 
placed Joseph Wisby, of Guthrie, in nomination for Congressional delegate. 
The Populist nominee was Ralph Beaumont. With a triangular contest, the 
Republican party was successful in electing not only its candidate for dele- 
gate to Congress but also a working majority of both houses of the Legisla- 
tive Assembly. It had been necessary to provisionally reapportion legislative 
representation among the several counties of the Territory because of the 
addition of six new counties by the opening of the Cherokee Outlet to home- 
stead settlement. 

The Third Legislative Assembly, like the second, spent most of its ses- 
sion in the transaction of routine business. Among the more important 
measures passed and approved were: chapters on bonds, on fees and salaries, 
on elections (including the adoption of the Australian ballot system) and on 
revenue (including territorial and county taxes). A small appropriation was 
made for the support of the Oklahoma Historical Society for the purpose of 
aiding it in the effort to collect and preserve newspaper files, documents, 
letters, books and other data pertaining to the history of the Territory and 
adjacent regions. 


The Campaign of 1896—The political activities of the year began quite 
early in Oklahoma, in 1896. The Territorial Republican Convention which 
was called to choose delegates to the National Convention, enthusiastically 
endorsed the Flynn Free Homes Bill which for the time being, at least, over- 
shadowed the statehood question in local interest and importance. This con- 
vention also demanded the free coinage of silver—a step which put the party 
in Oklahoma in a very awkward position after the National Republican Con- 
vention took its decided stand in opposition to the same. 

The preconvention campaign in Oklahoma was a warm one in 1896. Prob- 
ably the majority of the Republicans of the Territory would have been for 
the nomination of McKinley if it had been a mere matter of personal choice. 
Delegate Flynn, who had been bending every energy to secure the passage 
of the Free Homes Bill (and did succeed in securing its passage by the House 
of Representatives, March 16, of that year), was naturally under obligations 
to Speaker Thomas B. Reed, of the House of Representatives, who was an 
active aspirant for the presidential nomination. When, therefore, Mr. Flynn 
asked his constituents to send an uninstructed delegation, the great majority 
of the members of his party in the Territory were ready to acquiesce to his 
wishes in the matter. There was a faction, however, that believed in standing 
out for a delegation instructed for McKinley, presumably for the reason that 
he had been picked for a winner. Up to this time, although there had been a 
Kiowa, Kansas, where, in addition to practicing law, he established and successfully con- 
ducted the Kiowa Herald and also acted as postmaster. When Oklahoma was opened to 
settlement, in 1889, he settled at Guthrie, where he served as the first postmaster. In 1890, 
he received a strong vote in the Republican Territorial Convention for the nomination for 
delegate to Congress. In 1892 he was nominated and elected as Territorial Delegate to 
Congress. In 1894 he was renominated and reélected. In 1896 he was renominated, but 
was defeated as the result of the union of the opposition forces. Although his own party 
was hopelessly in the minority, he ran far ahead of his own ticket, largely on the free 
homes issue. In 1898, and again in 1900, he was renominated and reélected a delegate to 
Congress. During the last mentioned year he secured the passage of the Free Homestead 


Bill. In 1902 Mr. Flynn declined to be a candidate for reélection as delegate to Congress, 
Since 1903 he has been engaged in the practice of law in Oklahoma City. 


576 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


noticeable lack of sympathy between Republican leaders who had come to 
the Territory from Kansas and other northern states and those who came 
from Arkansas, where the party was always in a hopeless minority, yet there 
had been no open rupture. The ideal of Kansas republicanism was that of 
an active, aggressive, constructive party. The apparent ideal of Arkansas 
Republicanism, on the other hand, was to waste little, if any, energy on local 
affairs but rather to line up with the winner in the National Convention, hold 
_the party organizations intact and be in a position to properly distribute the 
Federal patronage in event of the success of their nominee in the presidential 
election. It will be recalled that, in the preconvention campaign of 1896, “the 
old guard” brought out many “favorite sons.” As a rule, Arkansas repub- 
licanism always followed in the train of “the old guard,” but in 1896 it broke 
this precedent by lining up for the nomination of William McKinley, presum- 
ably because such a course looked like the shortest cut to success in the way 
of partisan favors, as, indeed, it was. So, while the constructive element of the 
party was willing to send an uninstructed delegation if it would serve to 
strengthen the hands of their Congressional delegate in his effort to secure 
the enactment of the free homestead measure into law, the opportunistic ele- 
ment of the party, with an eye single to Federal patronage, made a valiant 
showing of activity in behalf of McKinley, assured that, even though it lost 
the delegation to the National Convention, it would be in a position to dictate 
many if not most of the Federal appointments in event of his nomination and 
election. It was inevitable that the Kansas ideal and the Arkansas idea, as to 
the purposes and policies of the party, should clash, as clash they did in this 
instance. Circumstances were such that the advocates of an uninstructed 
delegation won, yet, in so doing, it placed the leaders of the other faction in 
the attitude of martyrs to the McKinley cause, and the subsequent course of 
the political history of Oklahoma was materially affected in consequence. 
Incidentally, the genesis of factionalism in Oklahoma republicanism may all 
be traced back to this point. 

After the renomination of Flynn, the fusion of the national forces of the 
Democratic and Populist parties caused much talk of fusion, or united action 
in Oklahoma. Yet, here again was trouble. In the North, there had been 
fusion between the Democratic and Populist parties for several years, but, 
in the South, such a thing was unheard of. Quite the contrary, if there was 
any fusion or united action between parties in the South, it had been between 
the Populist and the Republican parties. So, while fusion was desired by the 
Democrats of some parts of Oklahoma (i. e. where most of them were from 
the North), there were other sections such as Greer, Roger Mills, Cleveland 
and other counties (in which most of the Democratic citizens were from the 
South), where the very suggestion of fusion was scouted. The Populist Ter- 
ritorial Convention was held at Guthrie on the 5th of August. It placed James 
Y. Callahan, of Kingfisher County, in nomination for delegate to Congress.8 

8. James Yancy Callahan was born in Dent County, Missouri, December 19, 1852. He 
was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools, and he has been a farmer most 
of his life. In 1885 he moved to Stanton County, Kansas, where he lived until 1892, when 
he moved to Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. While living in Kansas he served two terms as 


ed Hae of deeds. Mr. Callahan is now living (1929) at Enid, where he has been engaged in 
usiness, 


WILLIAM C. RENFROW 
1893-97 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 577 


For a month the fight between fusion and anti-fusion raged among the Demo- 
crats of Oklahoma. When the Democratic Convention assembled at El Reno, 
September 4, there was anything but harmony. Callahan was called before 
the convention and interrogated under circumstances that might have demor- 
alized a man much more experienced in political affairs. The wrangle between 
the opposing forces went far into the night but, in the end, fusion won and 
Callahan was endorsed. 

The campaign which followed was an exciting one. Both candidates made 
whirlwind campaigns, traveling much of the time off the railroad and largely 
by private conveyance, and speaking almost always in the open air. Great 
assemblages of people greeted both candidates at their respective appoint- 
ments. It is doubtful if any issue or campaign, even since statehood, ever 
equalled it in interest. Flynn pleaded for the support of the people in his 
struggle to secure the passage of an act making the homesteads of the Iowa, 
Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie, Kickapoo,.Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian reser- 
vations and the Cherokee Outlet free to the settlers as the homesteads of the 
Unassigned Lands had been. Callahan, on the other hand, urged that the 
election of Bryan on the silver issue (which many people in Oklahoma re- 
garded as a foregone conclusion) made it necessary that Oklahoma should 
have a delegate in Congress who would be in sympathy and touch with the 
national administration. At the start, it was known that Flynn would have a 
fusion plurality of about 10,000 to overcome. The result showed that many 
fusionists must have supported him, as Callahan’s plurality over him was 
only 1,168, the total vote being 53,702. At the same time the fusionists 
elected every member of the council and all but one of the members of the 
House of Representatives, the one exception being Cassius M. Barnes, of 
Guthrie, who had been speaker of the House two years before, when it was 
overwhelmingly Republican. 

Among the more important measures which passed both houses of the 
Fourth Legislative Assembly and received executive approval were the fol- 
lowing: A comprehensive banking law; a general election law; a general fee 
and salary law; the establishment and location of the Agricultural and 
Normal School for Colored People, at Langston, in Logan County, the estab- 
lishment and location of the Northwestern Normal School, at Alva; and a 
general live stock quarantine law. 

With the beginning of the McKinley administration, in March, 1897, pub- 
lic interest was largely centered in the choice of a new Territorial Governor. 
Former Delegate Dennis T. Flynn was the choice of a large majority of the 
members of his party in Oklahoma, and it was believed that President Mc- 
Kinley would have been glad to appoint him had it not been for the fact that 
his campaign managers had promised the place to Cassius M. Barnes (who 
had been the titular head of the McKinley forces in the preconvention cam- 
paign) in return for the support of the latter and his friends in the effort to 
secure an instructed delegation from Oklahoma. Flynn was recognized as a 
receptive candidate only and did not make any personal effort to secure the 
appointment, though his friends and admirers put forth a strong effort in his 


Okla—37 


578 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


behalf. Mr. Barnes was duly nominated for Governor of Oklahoma by Presi- 
dent McKinley and confirmed by the Senate. His inauguration took place 
May 24, 1897.® 

The Democratic and Populist Territorial conventions were called to 
meet simultaneously in Oklahoma City, July 13, 1898. The majority of the 
delegates to the Democratic Convention favored the fusion of the Democratic, 
Populist and Free Silver forces, but demanded that, in return for having sup- 
ported a Populist two years before, the fusion nominee for delegate to Con- 
gress should be a Democrat. The Populist Convention also had a majority 
favoring fusion but was strongly disposed to insist upon the renomination of 
Callahan for Congressional delegate. But there was an insistent minority in 
each convention which was opposed to fusion of any sort between the two 
parties. It was noticeable that this spirit of irreconcilable antagonism be- 
tween the two parties was confined almost wholly to those counties in which 
many, if not most, of the settlers had come from the South, where the Demo- 
cratic party was always in the majority and where the Populist party, if it 
fused at all, did so with the Republican party. So, when the Democratic Ter- 
ritorial Convention voted to go into joint session with the Populist Conven- 
tion, a number of delegates from Cleveland, Canadian, Oklahoma, Washita, 
Roger Mills and Greer counties, walked out of the convention and held a 
session in the interest of a “simon pure” democracy, though it was more 
nearly an indignation meeting than a convention, since it did not put a ticket 
in the field. Likewise, many of the delegates in the Populist Convention from 
the same counties were bitterly opposed to uniting with the Democratic party 
in the forthcoming campaign, but a majority of the delegates in the conven- 
tion voted to fuse. When the two conventions went into joint session there 
was a deadlock between the respective candidates of the two parties and it 
was not until the seventy-fourth ballot that James R. Keaton, of Oklahoma 
City, was nominated. Arthur S. Hankins, of Woods County, was nominated 
by that wing of the Populist party which refused to stand for fusion. 

The Republican Territorial Convention met at El Reno, on the 24th of 
August. There were a number of aspirants for the nomination for delegate 
to Congress. As some of these were personal friends of former Delegate 
Flynn, he promised that his name should not be placed before the convention 
for the nomination. However, a large number of delegates insisted upon vot- 
ing for him. Two ballots were taken without any candidate securing much 


9. Cassius M. Barnes was born in Livingston County, New York, in 1845. During the 
period of his early childhood his parents migrated to Michigan, where he was educated. 
At the outbreak of the Civil War, although but a mere boy, he enlisted, serving in various 
capacities in an engineer company, in the quartermaster’s department and in the military 
telegraph corps. Shortly after the close of the war he located at Little Rock, Arkansas, 
where he was engaged in business for a time. He took an active interest in politics and 
held several appointive Federal positions. When Oklahoma was opened he came to Guthrie 
as receiver of public moneys at the United States Land Office, a position which he held for 
four years. In 1894 he was elected as a member of the Territorial House of Representa- 
tives and served as Speaker of that body during the session of 1895. He also served as a 
member of the House in the session of 1897. In April, 1897, he was appointed Governor of 
Oklahoma by President McKinley, serving four years. After his retirement from that 
office, Governor Barnes was twice elected mayor of Guthrie. Governor Barnes lived in 
Kansas the latter part of his life. He died at Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, 1925. 


CASSIUS M. BARNES 
1897-1901 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 579 


promise of a majority. The other candidates then withdrew and Mr. Flynn 
was nominated on the third ballot. 

Although the general election law which had been enacted by the Fourth 
Legislative Assembly had been supposed to give some advantage to the fusion 
parties, the result of the election in Oklahoma in 1898 did not bear out the 
expectations of those who had framed it. Flynn was returned as a delegate 
to Congress by an overwhelming majority. His plurality over Keaton was 
9,368, with a total vote of 48,806. The Republicans also secured a good work- 
ing majority of the members of both houses of the Legislative Assembly. 

The work of the Fifth Legislative Assembly was uneventful as a whole. 
Little legislation was enacted outside of routine lines. A new general elec- 
tion law was passed. Of the eighty-two bills which passed both houses, 
twenty-four received an executive veto from the Governor. Of these, one was 
passed over the veto by the required vote. 


The Free Homes Bill—June 17, 1900, the measure which provided for free 
homesteads to the settlers on the Kiowa, Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie-Shawnee 
and Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian reservations, was finally passed and ap- 
proved. This was the measure to which Delegate Flynn had devoted the 
major portion of his efforts and energy throughout the Fifty-fourth and 
Fifty-sixth congresses and Delegate Callahan had introduced a similar bill 
in the House of Representatives during the Fifty-fifth Congress. It was 
authoritatively stated at the time of the passage of this act that it would save 
the settlers of Oklahoma the neat sum of $15,000,000. 

In 1900, Dennis T. Flynn was renominated for delegate to Congress. The 
Democratic and Populist parties again fused, placing Robert A. Neff, of Kay 
County, in nomination as their candidate for Congressional delegate. As the 
Free Homes Bill had been passed and approved, it was not an issue in the 
campaign. This left the track clear for the promise of statehood legislation. 
Flynn was reélected by a substantial majority, having a plurality of 4,724 
votes over Neff, in a total vote of 73,367. The result in the Legislative Assem- 
bly was mixed, the fusionists electing eight out of thirteen members of the 
Upper House, while the Republicans elected fifteen out of twenty-six mem- 
bers of the Lower House. 


Proposed Location of State Institutions—The Sixth Legislative Assembly 
was destined to see the most exciting contest in the legislative history of 
Oklahoma since the memorable struggle over the location of the territorial 
capital, in the First Legislative Assembly. This contest was precipitated by 
the introduction of Council Bill No. 129, by Councilman R. E. P. Messall, of 
Enid. The purpose of this measure, as stated in its title, was to provide “for 
the location, erection, management and control of a Territorial Penitentiary, 
a Territorial Asylum for the Insane, a Territorial Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb 
and Blind, a Territorial Reform School for Boys and a Territorial Industrial 
School for Girls.” (The Council Committee on Public Institutions, to which 
this bill was referred, consolidated the last two items into one.)!®° The com- 


10. Included in the plans for the original Public Building Bill, there was also proposed 
an appropriation for the erection of a “supreme court building,” at Guthrie. After the leg- 


580 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


bination which was made for the active support of this measure was suff- 
ciently strong to compel the support of representatives and councilmen from 
the districts in which Territorial institutions had already been located. In 
addition to the new institutions for which provision was thus sought to be 
made, bills were also pending for the location and establishment of a Terri- 
torial Normal School (introduced by J. Frank Matthews) in Greer County, 
and for the location and establishment of a Territorial University Preparatory 
School (introduced by James H. Wilkin) in Kay County.14 

It is doing no injustice to either the supporters or opponents of Council 
Bill No. 129 (or the Public Building Bill, as it was more commonly called) to 
say that in nearly every instance the attitude of each with regard thereto was 
largely a matter of local interest. In its essence, it was the old capital location 
fight all over again, with Oklahoma City still one of the principals, with this 
difference, namely, that, instead of being in the aggressive, Oklahoma City 
was now forced into an obstructive attitude. Moreover, the contest over the 
location of proposed additional public institutions was the beginning of the 
final and decisive local struggle over the question as to whether there should 
be one or two states formed of the Indian and Oklahoma territories. In the 
main the supporters of the Public Bill were for the admission of Oklahoma as 
a separate state, regardless of the disposition of the Indian Territory, and 
the measure was generally regarded as a distinct move in that direction, for 
it was plain that if these institutions were located, established and paid for 
by the people of the Territory of Oklahoma, their claims for recognition to 
the rights of separate statehood would be enhanced as compared with what 


islative wrangle over the location of the Territorial capital, during the session of the 
First Assembly, in 1890, there was always included in each Congressional appropriation 
bill for the maintenance of the Territorial Government a clause which expressly prohibited 
any appropriation by the Territorial Assembly for the erection of a capitol building. The 
proposition to appropriate public money for the erection of a building to house the Supreme 
Court of the Territory was, therefore, regarded as a plain case of attempting to evade this 
Congressional restriction. 


11. The establishment of a “university preparatory school,” supported by State appro- 
priation, was without precedent in the history of American educational institutions. Prac- 
tically, it amounted to furnishing the town in which it was located the benefits of a high 
school of unusual physical equipment and facilities as a free gift, with no local taxation 
for such purposes, whereas, every other town in Oklahoma Territory had to support its 
own high school. It was currently reported at the time that the proposition to establish 
such an institution did not originate at Tonkawa. The story of the inception of the propo- 
sition is interesting in that it throws light on the educational politics of the time. In 
essence, it was as follows: the Territorial University (which was itself still something of 
a preparatory school) was asking for the erection of another building, the original Dni- 
versity Hall having been outgrown, and a bill for that purpose had been introduced in the 
House of Representatives. A careful count revealed the fact that this measure lacked just 
one vote of having the majority necessary to pass the bill in question. Then it was that a 
resourceful promoter of the University’s interests hit upon the happy scheme of proposing 
to establish and locate a “university preparatory school,” at Tonkawa, in order to secure 
the much needed vote of Representative J. H. Wilkin, of that place, with the secret under- 
standing that, after the University building appropriation had passed with the aid of the 
vote thus secured, the bill proposing the establishment of a “university preparatory school” 
should be killed. The representative from Tonkawa readily agreed to support the appro- 
priation for a new building for the University in return for the voluntary offer to aid in 
the establishment of a Territorial institution in his home town. He carried out his part of 
the compact. Then, after the appropriation bill for a new building at the University had 
been passed, the “university preparatory school” measure was killed, much to the surprise 
of Representative Wilkin. However, being a resourceful and rather influential member of 
the House of Representatives, he did not rest until he had seen it revived, passed by both 
House and Council and approved by the Governor. More than that, the University always 
had to take the University Preparatory School and its influence into consideration for 
many years following that significant incident. 


JENKINS 


ILLIAM M. 


i 


W 


1901 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 581 


they would be in case the same remained unestablished when it came time 
for Congress to consider the form and terms of an enabling act. To be sure, 
the line of cleavage was not always identical, for, as already stated, local 
interests directed the course or attitude of the individual legislator, yet as a 
rule, local interest and alignment on the statehood issue did not differ ma- 
terially. 

The fight over the Public Building Bill waxed very warm and soon over- 
shadowed in popular interest all of the other business which was before the 
Assembly for consideration. The supporters of the measure were dubbed 
“Mound Builders,” while those who opposed it were called “Cave Dwellers.” 
It soon became apparent that the latter were in the minority, yet they strug- 
gled on with the courage of desperation. When the bill came to a vote in 
the Council, Sidney Clarke, member from Oklahoma County, explained his 
vote.?? 

His explanation brought other members to their feet with the explanations 
of their respective votes upon the measure, some of the supporters of the 
measure qualifying their approval of the same as a whole. The council passed 
the Public Building Bill by a vote of ten to three. The House of Representa- 
tives passed it by a vote of eighteen to eight, on the fifty-seventh day of the 
sixty-day session. The measure failed to receive the approval of Governor 
Barnes, so it did not become a law. 

The bill to locate and establish a Territorial Normal School in Greer 
County was so amended as to provide for its location in the southwestern 
part of the Territory, and authorizing the Governor to appoint a committee 
of five persons to select a location of the same, and then passed. The bill to 
locate and establish a University Preparatory School at Tonkawa, in Kay 
County, was also passed. Both of these measures were approved by Governor 
Barnes. 


Appointment of Jenkins as Governor—With the end of the session of the 
Sixth Legislative Assembly, popular interest in Oklahoma was largely given 
over to speculation as to who would be appointed Governor of the Territory 
for the succeeding four years. Governor Barnes was known to be willing to 
continue in the position for another term. On the other hand, the factional 
troubles incident to his administration had been embarrassing and there was 
open opposition to his reappointment. Under these circumstances, President 
McKinley decided to make a change and he selected William M. Jenkins,1% 
who, for four years had been secretary of the Territory, to fill the place. The 
appointment was regarded as entirely personal, Mr. Jenkins being a native of 
the home county of President McKinley, in Ohio, and an old friend of the 
latter. . 


12. Council Journal, Fifth Legislative Assembly, pp. 228-30, XLIV-1. 


13. William M. Jenkins was born in Stark County, Ohio, in 1856, of Quaker parentage. 
He was educated in the public schools and at Mount Union College. While teaching school 
he read law. He located in Arkansas City, Kansas, in 1888, where he engaged in the prac- 
tice of law. In 1893 he secured a homestead in Kay County, when the Cherokee Outlet 
was opened to settlement. He was appointed Secretary of the Territory by President 
McKinley, in June, 1897. After filling the position for nearly four years, he was appointed 
by President McKinley to the Governorship of Oklahoma, April 15, 1901. For a number of 
years after his retirement from public life Governor Jenkins was engaged in farming in 
Kay County. He has lived at Sapulpa for many years past. 


582 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


The most important event in the history of Oklahoma during the brief 
administration of Governor Jenkins was the opening of the Comanche- 
Kiowa-Apache and the Wichita-Caddo Indian reservations to settlement in 
August, 1901. The appointment of the county officers of the new counties fell 
to the Governor of the Territory, yet few if any of the appointments thus 
made could be considered as the personal selections of Governor Jenkins. 
Most of them were apparently selected by the party organization and, in a 
few instances, at the urgent solicitation if not the dictation of Congressional 
influences outside of Oklahoma. 

Although a partisan, Governor Jenkins was in no sense of the word a poli- 
tician. He was the personal choice and appointee of the President of the 
United States for the governorship of the most populous organized territory 
yet known in the history of the Federal Union and, as long as that president 
lived, he was shown due consideration and respect as the chief executive of 
that territory. The tragic death of President McKinley, a few months after 
the appointment of Governor Jenkins, was the signal for the deliberate un- 
doing of the latter. William M. Jenkins was a man of unblemished character 
and, in the minds of those who knew him best, no taint of official corruption 
ever attached to him, either before or during his term as Governor of Okla- 
homa. Unfortunately, like some reputedly greater men in positions of even 
greater authority, he was not always as positive and as self-assertive as the 
Governor of a territory should have been. 


The Removal of Governor Jenkins—During the administration of Gov- 
ernor Renfrow, there had been established at Norman a sanitarium for the 
care of the insane. It was built, equipped, owned and managed as a private 
business enterprise and to it was awarded a contract for the keeping of the 
insane persons who became public charges in Oklahoma. This contract was 
continued during the administration of Governor Barnes and it was reputed 
to be a very profitable one. With the change from the Barnes administration 
to that of Jenkins, powerful interests in the party organization insisted upon 
a change in the personnel of the company which operated the sanitarium at 
Norman. In other words, stock in the operating company having been recog- 
nized as a profitable investment, the privilege of owning it was regarded as 
a part and parcel of the partisan patronage to be apportioned by the party 
organization or at its behest. In the course of his “reorganization” of the 
operating company, Governor Jenkins was importuned to request the reser- 
vation of a block of stock in the sanitarium corporation for a friend (presum- 
ably a politician who for prudential reasons did not care to be known as being 
personally concerned in the matter at the time) and, whether or not it was 
against his better judgment, he acceded to the request. In doing this, he prob- 
ably did not sidestep the pathway of official propriety any more than either of 
his immediate predecessors had done, for it was commonly regarded by the 
politicians of both parties at that time (and even at a much later date) as a 
legitimate means of paying political debts. If this was not done for himself 
(for Governor Jenkins was assuredly not beholden to any one in Oklahoma 
in that way), then it was as a favor to some one else who was acceptable to 


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THOMPSON B. FERGUSON 
1902-06 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 583 


the party organization. Certainly there was no evidence that Governor Jen- 
kins would have personally profited from the transaction, either directly or 
indirectly. But, be all that as it may, he did make the request and it was not 
only granted but made a matter of record. 

When President McKinley was dead and buried, Governor Jenkins found 
that the favoring wind of political fortune had suddenly shifted and grown to 
a hurricane, before which he soon drifted upon the rocks of disaster. Charges 
of malfeasance in office were preferred against him. President Roosevelt de- 
manded to know whether or not he had requested the reservation of a block of 
the stock in the sanitarium for a party or parties to be named later, to which 
answer was made in the affirmative but, before any explanation could be 
offered as to the circumstances which might have extenuated or mitigated the 
seemingly glaring offense, Governor Jenkins was bluntly informed that he was 
removed from office, nor would the President listen to any representations on 
behalf of the deposed official thereafter. Thus was Jenkins ruthlessly sacrificed 
on the altar of an ostentatious zeal for a higher standard in the administra- 
tion of public affairs. Parenthetically, it may not be out of the way to remark 
that the impulsively prompt executive action in this instance is most strik- 
ingly contrasted with the more than indulgent refusal to consider charges 
equally as serious against one of the administration’s own appointees in the 
neighboring Territory, wherein the official thus accused a year or two later, 
happened to be a personal friend of the President. Incidentally, it may be 
mentioned that the party favorites, at whose instance Governor Jenkins had 
directed a reorganization of the company which owned and operated the 
sanitarium at Norman, lifted neither hand nor voice in his behalf in the hour 
of his political extremity. On the contrary they merely shrugged their 
shoulders and complacently went their several ways. Indeed, his passing was 
regarded as a mere incident in the course of events, his exit making scarcely 
a ripple on the pool of “practical politics” in which he had no part. And so, 
sinned against more than sinning, William M. Jenkins disappeared from the 
public life of Oklahoma, pitied by the multitude who knew him not and still 
respected by the few who knew him as man to man. 


The Appointment of Ferguson—To fill the vacancy created by the removal 
of Governor Jenkins, President Roosevelt appointed Thompson B. Fergu- 
son,!4 of Watonga. Governor Ferguson immediately qualified and assumed 
the duties of his position without other formality than that of being sworn 
into office. 

At the beginning of the political campaign of 1902, Delegate Flynn an- 
nounced that he would not be a candidate for reélection. There was, of 


14. Thompson B. Ferguson was born near Des Moines, Iowa, in 1857. His parents 
migrated to Southern Kansas, settling in Chautauqua County, while he was a child. He was 
educated in the public schools and in the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia. He was 
engaged in educational work for a number of years. When the Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
country was thrown open to settlement, in 1892, he settled at Watonga and established the 
Watonga Republican. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster and, in 1901, was appointed 
Governor of Oklahoma. After his retirement from that position, he was again engaged 
in editing and publishing the Watonga Republican. In 1907 he was the Republican 
nominee for Representative to Congress from the Second District. He died in Okla- 
homa City the 14th of February, 1921. , 


584 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


course, a scramble for the Republican nomination to succeed him. Bird S. 
McGuire,!® of Pawnee, was nominated. The Democratic nominee was Wil- 
liam M. Cross,16 of Oklahoma City. The campaign was a warmly contested 
one. The Democratic Territorial platform declared for single statehood for 
the Indian Territory and Oklahoma. The Republican platform, on the other 
hand, came out with a flat-footed declaration in favor of immediate statehood 
for Oklahoma alone, regardless of the future disposition of the Indian Terri- 
tory. The results of the campaign turned largely on this issue and there was 
much independent thinking and voting, especially in those communities in 
which the statehood question had been acute ever since the passage and 
executive disapproval of the Public Building Bill, a year and a half before. 
In the election which followed, McGuire won by a narrow margin of less 
than 500 votes out of a total of 94,303. The Democrats elected fourteen of 
the twenty-six members of the Lower House of the Legislative Assembly, 
while the Republicans elected seven of the thirteen members of the Upper 
House. 

The session of the Seventh Legislative Assembly was comparatively un- 
eventful, the tedium being broken for a time by the development of a small 
flurry of excitement over an alleged school textbook scandal, however. Most 
of the business transacted consisted of the making of the necessary appropria- 
tions for the Territorial government and its institutions, the amendment of 
existing laws and the enactment of new statutes of minor importance. A bill 
was introduced in the Lower House for the purpose of creating two new 
counties of territory to be taken from Comanche County and modestly pro- 
posing to name the counties, thus created, in honor of two members of that 
body. 

The campaign for the election of a delegate to Congress and members of 
the Territorial Legislative Assembly in 1904 was destined to be the last one. 
Delegate McGuire, who was anxious to secure the endorsement of his party 
for the separate statehood legislation then pending in Congress, insisted upon 


15. Bird S. McGuire was born at Belleville, Illinois, October 18, 1864. Most of his 
early life was spent in Northern Missouri, whither his parents had moved. In 1881, the 
family migrated again, settling in Chautauqua County, Kansas. Shortly afterward, Bird 
S. McGuire went to the Indian Territory, where he followed the life of a stockman for 
three years. Returning to Kansas in 1884, he entered the State Normal School at Emporia. 
After two years in school, he began teaching, reading law at the same time. He then 
attended the law school of the University of Kansas. After his admission to the bar, he 
was elected county attorney of Chautauqua County, a position which he filled for four 
years. In 1895 he came to OKlahoma, locating at Pawnee. Two years later he was 
appointed assistant United States District Attorney. In 1902, he was nominated and 
elected Delegate to Congress, and was reélected in 1904. In 1907 he was elected to Con- 
gress as Representative of the First Oklahoma District, and was reélected in 1908, 1910, 
and 1912. After 1915, he engaged in practicing law at Tulsa. Recently (1929), he retired 
from active practice and settled on a ranch in Osage County. 


16. William Macklin Cross (popularly called Bill Cross) was born at Purdy, McNeary 
County, Tennessee, July 4, 1847. At the age of fourteen he entered the Confederate mili- 
tary service as a drummer in Company K, 154th Tennessee Regiment, of which his father 
(who was killed in action at the battle of Shiloh) was colonel. Young Cross was wounded 
and captured the same day his father was killed. He was subsequently exchanged and 
returned to the front, serving in the army of General Joseph E. Johnston. After the end 
of the war he entered Kentucky University, at Lexington, but only remained one year on 
account of the financial condition of the family. He entered a dry goods store and eventu- 
ally became a traveling salesman, in which capacity he came to Oklahoma. He was nom- 
inated as the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State and was elected in September, 
1907, when the Constitution was ratified. He died August 4, 1910. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 585 


an early convention. There was no active opposition to his renomination. 
The Democratic Convention placed J. Frank Matthews, of Greer County, in 
nomination. The Populist party, which had not had a candidate in the field 
since 1900, held a convention and nominated Horace E. Straughen, of Lincoln 
County. 

As in the preceding campaign, the alignment between the two leading 
parties was chiefly determined by their respective attitudes with regard to 
the issue of single or separate statehood. As in 1902, the Democratic plat- 
form contained an unqualified declaration in favor of the creation of one 
state from the two territories. The Republican platform, as before, was com- 
mitted to the two-state program. National policies and the personality of 
national candidates also entered more largely into consideration than they 
had in any previous campaign since 1896. McGuire was reélected by a plur- 
ality of 1,586 over Matthews, the total vote cast for all candidates being 
109,145. The Republicans also succeeded in electing a majority of the mem- 
bers of each branch of the Legislative Assembly. 

The Eighth Legislative Assembly was also a comparatively uneventful 
one. A bill providing for the consolidation of rural school districts was 
passed; although rather in advance of the time, it was to be regarded as 
indicative of the trend of intelligent sentiment among educators and served 
as the basis of further progressive legislation along the same line under the 
State government. A bill providing for the creation of a Territorial Railway 
Commission was introduced in the House, passed by that body and sent to 
the council, where it was considered, amended and finally tabled. 

Late in the session, Representative Wesley Taylor, of Noble County, 
introduced a bill (House Bill No. 345) for the purpose of enabling “the peo- 
ple of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory to form and adopt a state con- 
stitution and organize a State. government and to secure the admission of 
said state into the Union.” By unanimous vote, the rules were suspended, 
the bill was immediately read a second time and referred to a special com- 
mittee on constitutional convention. A few days later, it was called up and 
killed by a strict party vote, the Democrats voting solidly for the motion to 
accept the report of the Sifting Committee, which would have brought the 
bill to a vote on its passage in the House, while Republicans voted solidly 
to except this measure from the report of the Sifting Committee, thus killing 
the measure.17 


Another Change in the Governorship—As the end of Governor Fergu- 
son’s four-year term drew near, it became evident that there would be some 
opposition to a reappointment. Taken altogether, his administration had been 
accounted a successful one. It had certainly occasioned less criticism and 
complaint than any of the preceding administrations in the history of the 
Territory. He had conscientiously endeavored to carry out the instructions 


17. In the report of aye and nay vote (House Journal, Highth Legislative Assembly, 
p. 396) Representative Taylor, who had introduced House Bill No. 345, was reported as 
“absent and not voting.” The writer hereof (J. B. T.) was present in the lobby of the 
House when the vote by which this bill was killed was taken and particularly noted that 
Representative Taylor was present and voted with the other Republican members to kill 
his own bill. The journal of the House was evidently “corrected” later. 


586 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


given to him at the time of his appointment by President Roosevelt, namely, 
to give the people of the Territory an honest and economical administration 
and, if fidelity to the trust that had been delegated to him could be counted 
for aught, he was plainly entitled to a reappointment. But trying to make 
official actions square with the requirements of such an obligation and pleas- 
ing all of the politicians, even in one’s own party, would have been to attempt 
the impossible. And so, though the mass of the Oklahoma people, regardless 
of political affiliations, would have been glad to see Governor Ferguson con- 
tinued for another term, a few of the active politicians in his own party 
started a fight against his possible reappointment. They centered their sup- 
port upon Captain Frank Frantz, of Enid, who had been an officer in a volun- 
teer cavalry regiment of which President Roosevelt had been Colonel dur- 
ing the war with Spain—not that Captain Frantz was himself a factionist, 
for this same faction had defeated him in his candidacy for delegate to the 
National Republican Convention only a year and a half before, but rather 
because, being a personal friend of the President, he was regarded as the 
most available man to encompass the retirement of Governor Ferguson. 
Without having intimated or indicated in any way that Governor Ferguson’s 
services had been other than satisfactory, or that tenure in that position 
should be limited to a single term of four years, President Roosevelt saw fit 
to make the first announcement that he would not be reappointed to the very 
men who had been making the fight against him, at the same time stating 
that Captain Frantz would be appointed to succeed him. 

Frank Frantz was the youngest man ever appointed to the governorship 
of Oklahoma.1® His brief administration of less than two years was termi- 
nated by the change from the Territorial to the State form of government. 
There were no more sessions of the Territorial Assembly, so his duties were 
not as varied as those of most of his predecessors. 


18. Frank Frantz was born at Roanoke, Illinois, May 7, 1872. He was educated in the 
public schools of his native State and spent two years as a student at Eureka College. He 
settled at Enid, Oklahoma, in September, 1893, at the opening of the Cherokee Outlet. At 
the outbreak of the Spanish-American War he was in Arizona, from which Territory he 
entered the military service as a first lieutenant in the Ist United States Volunteer Cavalry. 
He was promoted to the rank of captain before the close of the war. In 1901, he was 
appointed postmaster at Enid. Two years later he was named as United States Indian 
Agent at the Osage Agency. He was appointed Governor of Oklahoma, his term beginning 
January 5, 1906, and running until the end of the territorial régime, November 16, 1907. 
He is now (1929) a resident of Tulsa. 


of see). erm aoe 


FRANK FRANTZ 
1906-07 


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CHAPTER XLV 


EARLIER AGITATION FOR STATEHOOD 


ne 


ny 


CHAPTER XLV. 
EARLIER AGITATION FOR STATEHOOD. 


The territorial government had scarcely completed its organization before 
there began to appear in the press of Oklahoma expressions in favor of an 
early movement for the admission of Oklahoma into the Union as a state. 
The holding of a statehood convention was mooted, even while the first 
Territorial Legislative Assembly was in session. The scattered and inde- 
pendent agitation finally culminated in the calling of a statehood convention 
to be held in Oklahoma City, December 15, 1891. As a result of its delibera- 
tions a lengthy memorial to Congress was formulated and adopted. 

The following persons were appointed as members of the Statehood 
Executive Committee: Oklahoma County, Sidney Clarke; Logan County, 
William P. Hackney; Cleveland County, Samuel H. Harris; Canadian 
County, William J. Grant; Kingfisher County, J. P. Cummins; Payne County, 
Frank J. Wykoff; Beaver County, George F. Payne; County “A,” William M. 
Allison; County “B,” J. H. Woods; Chickasaw Country, H. C. Potterf. 


The First Statehood Bill—Territorial Delegate David A. Harvey pre- 
sented this memorial to Congress and introduced a bill in the House of 
Representatives (H. R. 4629),? January 25, 1892, to authorize the people of 
Oklahoma and Indian territories to formulate and adopt a constitution and 
apply for admission into the Union as a State. In line with this, on the 14th 
of April following, Delegate Harvey introduced another bill (H. R. 8154) 
providing for the allotment of all the lands in the several Indian reservations 
attached to the Quapaw Agency, the organization of the same into the 
County of Cayuga and the attachment of the same to the Territory of Okla- 
homa.? 

During the last session of the 52d Congress, on the 22d of the following 
December, Senator Bishop W. Perkins, of Kansas, introduced a bill to pro- 
vide for the admission of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as a single State.4 

Beginning on February 11, 1892, and continuing at frequent intervals for 
nearly a month, the House Committee on Territories held a series of hear- 
ings on the question of the proposed State to be composed by a union with 
the Indian Territory with Oklahoma. The principal arguments for the Har- 
vey Statehood Bill were made by Sidney Clarke, of Oklahoma City, and by 
W. P. Hackney and Horace Speed, both of Guthrie, representing the single 
statehood executive committee. The arguments in opposition were mostly 
advanced by Elias C. Boudinot® (Cherokee), Roly McIntosh and A. P. Mc- 


1. Norman Transcript, December 19, 1889. The resolutions adopted by the first state- 
hood convention are reproduced in Appendix XLV-1. 

2. Congressional Record, 1st Session, 52d Congress, Vol. XXIII, p. 522. 

3. Ibid., p. 3332; also a similar bill was introduced by Senator Morgan, of Alabama, 
Ibid., 3155. 

4, Ibid., p. 3951. 

5. E. C. Boudinot here mentioned was a nephew of Colonel E. C. Boudinot, who was so 
long a prominent figure in Cherokee affairs. The latter had died a year and a half before. 


590 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Kellop (Creek) and Captain J. S. Standley (Choctaw). As each of these gave 
in his testimony before the committee, he was listened to with keen interest 
by the advocates of the other side and frequently subjected to most searching 
cross-examination. Years afterward, it was jocularly remarked of one of the 
gentlemen, who was then advocating joint statehood for the two territories, 
that he had advanced arguments in support of the proposition that which, 
after he had subsequently espoused the cause of separate statehood, for 
Oklahoma without the Indian Territory, he was never able to answer or 
refute. The representatives of the Five Civilized Tribes presented many 
arguments in opposition to the proposed statehood legislation, protesting 
against it at that time. The most effective of these was that, under the 
treaties then in force, the country belonging to each of the Five Civilized 
Tribes could not be included within the bounds of any State except with 
their consent. As indicating the attitude of the people of Indian blood, an 
extract from the speech of Roly McIntosh (as interpreted by Captain George 
W. Grayson) may be accepted as typical.§ 


Increasing Interest in Statehood—The year 1893 saw considerable interest 
and activity in the matter of agitation of statehood. A statehood convention 
was held at El Reno, August 8, which was well attended.? It declared for 
statehood for both territories. A few weeks later (September 30) an “Inter- 
Territorial” statehood convention was held at Purcell.§ In addition to resolu- 
tions declaring the desires and the fitness of the people of the Indian Terri- 
tory and Oklahoma for statehood, a lengthy memorial, reciting the ineff- 
ciency, inequity and unworthiness of the Indian tribal governments and the 
tendency toward monopoly in land tenures thereunder, was prepared and 
adopted. A week later (October 6), Delegate Flynn introduced a bill in the 
House of Representatives to provide for statehood for Oklahoma and the 
Indian Territory.® By its terms, the proposed new state was to have three 
Congressmen. Two months after the Inter-Territorial Convention at Purcell, 
another statehood convention was held at Kingfisher (November 28, 1893), 
which urged immediate statehood.!° 

The Flynn bill was not the only statehood measure before Congress, how- 
ever. The same day the statehood convention met in El Reno (August 8), 
Senator Joseph M. Carey, of Wyoming, on behalf of the Senate Committee 
on Territories, had introduced an omnibus statehood bill to provide for the 
admission of the territories of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.?1 
A month later, Representative Joseph Wheeler, for the House Committee on 
Territories, had introduced a similar measure in the lower house of Congress. 
None of these measures reached the stage of a committee report, however, so 
the subject did not come up for consideration in either house. 


6. Hearings of House Committee on Territories, 52d Congress, Ist Session, special report 
of Committee on Territories hearings on bill proposing statehood for Oklahoma Territory, 
pp. 46-49. Appendix XLV-2. 

7. Norman Transcript, August 11, 1893. 

8. Kingfisher Free Press, October 5, 1893. 

9. Congressional Record, 53d Congress, 3d Session, Vol. XXVII, pp. 193-96. 

10. Ibid., pp. 235-37. 

11. Ibid., Vol. XXV, p. 212. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 591 


At the beginning of the last session of the 53d Congress (December 5, 
1894), Senator James H. Berry, of Arkansas, introduced a bill to provide 
for the organization of a territory to be composed of the country belonging 
to each of the Five Civilized Tribes and to be known as the Territory of 
Indianola.12 Senator Berry made an extended speech on the subject of the 
conditions then existing in the Indian Territory and pointing out the neces- 
sity of some decided change of policy on the part of the Government in its 
relations with the autonomous Indian nations of the Indian Territory. Al- 
though he carefully refrained from reference to the possibility of joint state- 
hood with Oklahoma, it was evident that his bill had been inspired by influ- 
ences which were hostile to the proposed union of the two territories in the 
formation of one state. An effort had been made to hold a statehood con- 
vention at Muskogee on the 6th of October preceding, but it was captured by 
the anti-statehood forces and adopted a declaration against the proposed 
union of the two territories in one State. At the conclusion of Senator 
Berry’s speech, Senator Orville H. Platt, of Connecticut, gave notice of his 
intention to address the Senate the next day upon the same theme. Senator 
Platt’s discussion of the subject differed from that of Senator Berry in that 
it showed a more comprehensive grasp and presented in a pertinent way 
more concrete facts, dealing in fewer generalities.1% 

Senator Berry’s Indianola bill was referred to the Committee on Indian 
Affairs, which never rendered any report to the Senate upon the same. 

The Cayuga County bill (H. R. 5579) was renewed by the House Com- 
mittee on Indian Affairs in the 53d Congress, and a bill of like import was 
also introduced in the Senate, but that was as far as the matter went.14 


Opposition of Indian Territory Leaders—The continued and determined 
opposition of the majority of the Indian Territory leaders to the proposed 
statehood with Oklahoma, eventually had its effect in wearing out the pa- 
tience of many of the Oklahoma leaders (some of whom, for purely partisan 
reasons, or because of personal ambition, or on account of the possible loca- 
tion of some public institutions, had always secretly favored a smaller 
State), and many began to express opinions in favor of statehood without 
waiting for the Indian Territory. Probably the first public declaration of 
this sentiment, though not worded as definitely as it might have been, was 
a plank in the Territorial Republican platform adopted by the convention at 
Oklahoma City, May 15, 1894, which demanded “statehood for Oklahoma in 
the quickest and best way it can be obtained.”15 

Early in the session of the 54th Congress (December 12, 1895), Rep- 
resentative Thomas C. McRae, of Arkansas, introduced a bill (H. R. 1456) 
in the House of Representatives for the purpose of extending the limits 
and laws of Oklahoma to include the Indian Territory and to authorize the 


12. Ibid., Vol. XXVII, p. 38. 

13. Ibid., Vol. X XVII, pp. 193-96. Appendix XLV-3. 

14. Ibid., Vol. XXVI, p. 1852. <A bill was also introduced by Representative Charles Cur- 
tis, of Kansas, for the organization of the county of Miami, embracing the same area as 
the proposed Cayuga. Ibid., p. 2115. 

15. Guthrie, State Capital, May 16, 1894. 


592 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


people of the enlarged territory to formulate and adopt a constitution and 
apply for admission into the Union as a State.16 The conservative leaders 
among the citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes (which element was always 
in the ascendancy) manifested great uneasiness. An inter-tribal council was 
held at Eufaula, in March, at which resolutions were adopted. In the mean- 
time Delegate Flynn had introduced another statehood bill (House Bill No. 
3209), January 3, 1896.17 

January 8, 1896, a statehood convention was held in Oklahoma City.1§ 
Two separate calls had been issued for the convention, one by the advocates 
of single or joint statehood, for both territories, and the other by the sup- 
porters of the movement for immediate or separate statehood, as it thence- 
forth became known. A wrangle began as soon as the convention assembled. 
Both calls were read and two chairmen were elected by the rival factions. 
Then pandemonium broke loose. The scenes which followed were described, 
not inaptly, by a press correspondent as “resembling a riot in a lunatic asylum 
more than anything else.” The meeting broke up in disorder, being arbitrarily 
adjourned by one of the chairmen, but the delegates continued to wrangle 

until the lights were turned out in the auditorium. 

Although interest in the statehood question was not dead, the issue was 
in a state of quiescence for several years, beginning in 1896. For one thing, 
the Free Homes Bill had come to occupy a very large place in the minds of the 
people of Oklahoma. Then, too, the excitement of the political campaign of 
1896, together with the change in the political complexion of the national 
administration which followed, undoubtedly had its effect and, moreover, 
Oklahoma Territory, which had hitherto returned Republican majorities or 
pluralities to the Legislative Assembly and had always been represented in 
Congress by a Republican territorial delegate, elected an assembly, an over- 
whelming majority of the members of which were fusionists (Democrat- 
Populist) and send a Populist delegate to Congress. Had the Democratic 
party prevailed nationally, there might have been some chance to secure 
serious consideration of the statehood question in Congress; as it was, how- 

_ ever, it had no chance whatever. 

While the agitation for statehood during the years of 1891 to 1896, inclu- 
sive, did not lead to any definite results, it did afford an opportunity for the 
people to begin to study the question seriously, and it soon led to very pro- 
nounced differences of opinion and sentiment as to whether the Territory of 
Oklahoma should seek statehood for itself alone or in conjunction with the 
people of the Indian Territory. On the one hand, it was argued that the 
Territory of Oklahoma was greater in geographic extent than several of the 
older states and that its resources were such that it would ultimately support 
a population greater than that of some of the older states; and it was further 
contended that conditions in the Indian Territory were so complicated and so 
radically different from those prevailing to Oklahoma that the union of the 
two territories into one state was not only undesirable but impracticable as 


16. Congressional Record, 54th Congress, Ist Session, Vol. XXVIII, p. 159. 
17. Ibid., p. 476. 
18. Oklahoma City Times-Journal, January 8 and January 9, 1896. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 593 


well. The advocates of single or joint statehood, on the other hand, pointed 
out the fact that, in area, Oklahoma would be less than half the size of any 
adjoining State, the Indian Territory alone excepted; that, to make perma- 
nent the boundary line between the two territories, would be to erect a bar- 
rier between Oklahoma and the principal source of its fuel supply; that, judg- 
ing by what had happened in the case of the divided Dakotas, a state having 
greater size, population and resources would wield proportionately much 
greater influence in national councils than two small states could hope to be 
able to do, and, finally, that the relatively greater cost of maintaining two 
state governments with a complete duplication of administrative machinery 
and public institutions could not possibly be compensated by any of the 
advantages alleged in behalf of the separate statehood proposition. 

In the alignment on the question of single statehood for the two territories 
or separate statehood for Oklahoma alone, one fact soon became apparent, 
namely, that location had much to do with shaping public opinion. It was 
noticeable that, in the counties near the geographic center of the original 
Indian Territory, including Cleveland, Oklahoma, Lincoln and Pottawatomie 
counties, the sentiment was strong for single statehood, while, in the counties 
near the geographic center of Oklahoma Territory, such as Canadian, King- 
fisher, Blaine and Garfield, the preponderance of public sentiment was equally 
as great for separate statehood. The reasons for this striking difference were 
not difficult to discern even at that early date, and they became even more 
apparent when the statehood question was revived a few years later and with 
it the proposed location of a number of territorial or state institutions. 


Beginning of a Six-Year Struggle for Statehood—After the passage of the 
Free Homes Bill, Delegate Dennis T. Flynn felt free to concentrate his efforts 
upon the passage of a bill to enable the people of Oklahoma to frame and 
adopt a constitution and apply for admission into the Federal Union as a 
State. Renewed interest in the subject of statehood, which had been quiescent 
for about four years, became apparent about the same time, although there 
had been bills pending in Congress during that interval. In May, 1900, Repre- 
sentative John A. Moon, of Tennessee, had introduced a measure for the 
organization of the Indian Territory under the name of the Territory of 
Jefferson. This measure was largely discussed locally but was never seriously 
considered in Congress. 

A single statehood convention was held at McAlester (which was one of 
the centers for separate statehood sentiment at that time), December I, 1900. 
A memorial to Congress was adopted and a delegation was chosen to visit 
Washington and urge upon the members of the national law-making bodies 
the importance of early action in the matter of statehood legislation. Three 
days later, among the first bills introduced in the last session of the 56th 
Congress, was one, by Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, to enable 
the people of Oklahoma and Indian territories to form and adopt a state con- 
stitution and be admitted into the Union as a state. No action was taken in 
regard to any statehood legislation at that session, however. 

Another inter-territorial convention in the interest of single statehood 
was held at Muskogee, November 15, 1901. A memorial, addressed to Con- 


Okla—38 


594 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


gress, was prepared and adopted and a delegation of able men representing 
both territories was selected to proceed to Washington in the interest of the 
movement at the opening of the 57th Congress. Delegate Flynn introduced 
three bills early in the first session, all of which had a bearing, direct or 
indirect on the statehood question. One of these (H. R. 152) proposed to 
enable the people of Oklahoma Territory to form and adopt a state constitu- 
tion and to be admitted into the Union as a state on an equality with the other 
states. The other two bills had to do with the Indian Territory but indirectly 
each seemed to hint at ultimate joint statehood with Oklahoma. The first of 
these was designed to provide for the division of the Indian Territory into 
counties, defining the boundaries of the same and locating the county seats. 
The other provided for the organization of the County of Quapaw (to be 
composed of the reservations included under the Quapaw Agency in the 
northeastern part of the Indian Territory) and annexing it to the Territory 
of Oklahoma. These two measures, taken in conjunction of The Flynn State- 
hood Bill, created much uneasiness in the Indian Territory, for the passage 
of both the latter and the Quapaw County Bill would have given the people of 
the new county a voice in the formulation and adoption of a state constitution 
which would have been thus denied to the people of the rest of the Indian Ter- 
ritory, whose national dominions would have been subject to annexation by 
piecemeal later. 

Other measures bearing on the statehood question were also introduced. 
Senator Fairbanks reintroduced his Single Statehood Bill (S. 186) in the 
Upper House, and Representative Thomas C. McRae, of Arkansas, introduced 
a similar bill (H. R. 279) to organize the Indian Territory as the Territory 
of Jefferson. When Congress reconvened after the Christmas recess, two 
more statehood bills were introduced—one in the Senate (S. 3368) by Senator 
Thomas M. Patterson, of Colorado, and one in the House (H. R. 9675) by 
Representative John H. Stephens, of Texas. Each of these two measures 
proposed joint statehood for Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. 

Up to this time, Delegate Flynn evidently favored the union of the two 
territories in the organization of one State—his Quapaw County bill is suffi- 
cient proof of that. But the persistent and obstinate opposition of the Indian 
Territory lobbyists finally seemed to convince him of the futility of any 
further effort to secure the passage of a bill for single statehood, either dur- 
ing that session or at any other time in the near future. So he abandoned 
further efforts in that line, ceased to manifest further interest in Indian 
Territory affairs and devoted himself whole-heartedly to an endeavor to 
secure immediate statehood for the people of Oklahoma Territory. His first 
move in this direction was the introduction of another statehood bill (H. R. 
11,802), February 25, 1902. Less than three weeks later (March 14, 1902), 
Representative William S. Knox, for the House Committee on Territories, 
introduced an omnibus bill to enable the people of Arizona, New Mexico and 
Oklahoma, to adopt constitutions, organize governments and apply for admis- 
sion into the Union. In this bill, Oklahoma was considered alone and regard- 
less of any possible future connection with the Indian Territory, except that 
Congress reserved the right to annex it to Oklahoma later. It was this Omni- 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 595 


bus Statehood Bill that first brought the issue of double or single statehood 
for the Indian Territory and Oklahoma before Congress for consideration, 
where it was destined to hold a prominent place until it was finally settled, 
over four years later. 


The Omnibus Statehood Bill—The Omnibus Statehood Bill was called up 
for consideration in the House of Representatives, in the Committee of the 
Whole House on the State of the Union, May 7, 1902. Representative Knox 
led in the opening speech in support of the bill and also directed the affirma- 
tive debate.19 The leader of the debate on behalf of the minority party was 
none other than Representative Moon, of Tennessee, the proponent of the 
Jefferson Territory movement; following Mr. Knox, Representative McRae, 
who first gave notice that at the proper time he would offer a substitute, the 
purport of which was to include Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as one 
State.?° In the course of his speech, Mr. McRae asked that the clerk read the 
resolutions which had been adopted at a meeting of the Oklahoma City Com- 
mercial Club, February 4, 1902, which may be regarded as a succinct state- 
ment of the single statehood side of the question. 

The debate was continued on the two succeeding days, during the course 
of which, the bill was considered in detail and a number of minor amend- 
ments were made. Delegate Flynn made a logical argument in support of 
the bill, devoting himself to the fitness and qualifications of the Territory of 
Oklahoma for statehood and making no reference to the Indian Territory 
whatever, though he did do so in the course of a running debate with Mr. 
McRae.?! The substitute amendment offered by the latter was as follows :?? 


That the inhabitants of all that part of the United States now constituting the Territory of 
Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, namely, that section of country bounded on the north by 
the states of Colorado and Kansas, on the east by the states of Arkansas and Missouri, on the 
south by the State of Texas, and on the west by the state of Texas and the territory of New 
Mexico, may become the State of Oklahoma, as hereinafter provided: Provided, That nothing 
in this act shall be construed to impair any right now pertaining to any Indian tribe or tribes in 
said Territory under the laws, agreements, or treaties of the United States, or to affect the 
authority of the Government of the United States to make any regulations or to make any law 
respecting said Indians or their lands which it would have been competent to make or enact if 
this act had not been passed and the constitutional convention hereinafter provided for shall, 
by ordinance irrevocable, express the consent of the State of Oklahoma that Congress shall 
retain complete jurisdiction over all lands that belong to any Indian tribes until the same has 
been allotted in severalty and becomes subject to taxation.23 


This amendment was defeated by a vote of 57 to 103, after having been 
ruled in order by the chairman of the Committee of the Whole House, Repre- 
sentative J. A. Hemenway, of Indiana. The bill as amended was finally re- 
ported favorably out of the committee to the House, by which it was immedi- 
ately passed May 9, 1902. 


19. Congressional Record, 57th Congress, ist Session, Vol. XXXV, pp. 5136-42. 
20. Ibid., pp. 5140-46. Appendix XLV-4. 

21. Ibid., pp. 5186-98. 

22. Ibid., p. 5189. 

23. Ibid., p. 5196. 


596 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


After passing the House the bill went to the Senate, where it was referred 
to the Committee on Territories. This committee was not disposed to act 
hastily in passing upon the Omnibus Statehood Bill, at least not nearly so 
hastily as was desired in some quarters. The chief sponsor for the Omnibus 
Statehood Bill in the Senate was Matthew S. Quay, then the senior Senator 
from the State of Pennsylvania. Senator Quay became very impatient with 
what he regarded as the dilatoriness of the Committee on Territories, though 
he had no scruples against delaying consideration of legislation which was 
objectionable to him. It may be stated also that he had no particular interest 
in that part of the bill relating to Oklahoma and probably would not have 
objected to a single statehood program if it had been embodied in the bill as 
it came from the House. His whole interest in the measure was understood 
to be centered in those sections which related to New Mexico. He was under- 
stood to have personal reasons for desiring immediate admission of New 
Mexico. The bill was referred to the Committee May 12. Five weeks later 
(June 17), Senator Quay gave notice that in two days he would move to 
discharge the committee from further consideration of the bill, which he did 
at the time indicated. He also made a speech in which many precedents were 
cited to justify the adoption of such a motion.*4 He sought for several days 
thereafter to secure unanimous consent for the consideration of his motion 
but failed and finally withdrew the motion upon the understanding that the 
bill should be reported early in the next session. 


Visit of the Senate Committee on Territories—During the latter part of 
the summer, in Oklahoma, when interest in public matters is more or less 
dormant, there was some quiet counseling among the active leaders of the 
single statehood propaganda who were naturally anxious over the prospect. 
The Senate Committee on Territories was invited to visit Oklahoma through 
the medium of a letter sent to its chairman, Senator Albert J. Beveridge, 
of Indiana. A special invitation was sent to Senator Quay, who was a mem- 
ber of the committee. Presumably there were a number of similar invitations 
sent to the committee, not only from Oklahoma but also from Arizona and 
New Mexico. Along in the autumn it was reported that the Senate Commit- 
tee on Territories was planning to visit all of the territories. It was hoped 
that they would visit Oklahoma first. When the committee started west it 
was announced that the territories of Arizona and New Mexico were to be 
visited first. No answers were made to telegrams sent to the committee from 
Oklahoma after the committee left Topeka on its ways to the other territories. 

The Committee on Territories, traveling on a special train on the Pan- 
handle Division of the Santa Fe Railway, entered Oklahoma, unannounced, 
on the afternoon of Saturday, November 22, 1902. Brief stops were made at 
Woodward and Alva, whence telegrams were sent to Guthrie, Oklahoma City 
and possibly other points. The telegrams addressed to the Oklahoma Com- 
mercial Club were very brief, merely announcing that the Senate Committee 
on Territories would arrive in Oklahoma City at 4 P. M. the next day (Sun- 
day). This intelligence was immediately transmitted from Oklahoma City to 


24. Ibid., pp. 7197-7210. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 597 


the friends and leaders of the single statehood movement in many towns in 
both Oklahoma and Indian territories, with invitation to send delegations to 
meet the members of the committee. But, in this, Oklahoma City was almost 
reckoned without its host because of a change in the program which the 
members of the committee were induced to make after arriving in Guthrie. 
The committee’s special train arrived at Guthrie about midnight and ex- 
pected to remain there until time to start to Oklahoma City the next after- 
noon. The members of the committee were met and persuaded that it would 
be best to hold but one hearing for both territories, and that, at Guthrie. In 
order to let them see something of the country in the two territories, it was 
also proposed that their train should proceed to Oklahoma City early the 
following morning, make a brief stop there and thence go east on the Rock 
Island to Shawnee and McAlester; thence north on the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas, to Muskogee and Wagoner; thence, over the Iron Mountain, to Clare- 
more; thence back to Oklahoma City, on the St. Louis & San Francisco, and 
return to Guthrie Monday morning. When the Senatorial Committee arrived 
in Oklahoma City at an early hour Sunday morning, practically unheralded, 
save for the brief announcement in the morning papers, there was dismay 
among the advocates of single statehood. They had not been out-generaled— 
they had just been “scooped,” with no chance to present their side of the case, 
and they were dumbfounded when Senator Beveridge assured them that it 
had all been arranged and agreed that there should be but one general hearing 
for the people of both territories and that it should be held at Guthrie. The 
heavy clouds whence fell intermittent showers during the day, could scarcely 
add to the gloom which prevailed in Oklahoma City as the Senate Commit- 
tee’s special train departed for Shawnee. But, even as every cloud is said to 
have a silver lining, so there were a few sparks of optimism unextinguished 
in the group which gathered for consultation at the Lee Hotel shortly after- 
ward. The one question uppermost in every mind was that of finding some 
plan by means of which the Senate Committee could be induced to change 
its plan and hold part of its hearings in Oklahoma City on the following day. 
Various expedients were suggested and rejected. Finally, the writer, who 
was present solely in his capacity as secretary of the Oklahoma City Com- 
mercial Club, remarked that he believed he could write a telegram that would 
keep the Senators in Oklahoma City a part of the day, at least. “Let’s see it,” 
was the instant response from several quarters. When the telegram was 


written it read thus: 


OKLAHOMA City, Nov. 23, 1902. 
Hon. A. J. Beveridge, Chairman, 3, 190 


Senate Committee on Territories, 
South McAlester, Ind. Ter. 

Smr:—South McAlester, Muskogee, Vinita, Claremore, Tulsa, Sapulpa, Chandler, Wewoka, 
Hokdenville, Shawnee, Tecumseh, Norman, Lexington, Purcell, Pauls Valley, Wynnewood, 
Davis, Ardmore, Chickasha, Lawton, Mangum, Hobart, Anadarko and Oklahoma City delega- 
tions respectfully but insistently urge that they be accorded a hearing in Oklahoma City 
tomorrow. (Signed) 

JosrerH B. THosurn, Secretary Oklahoma City Commercial Club. 


It should be stated that there were not actually that many delegations in 
sight at the time but it was hoped there might be within a few hours. Late 


598 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


that night a telegram came from Senator Beveridge, saying, “Will endeavor 
to hold brief hearing in Oklahoma City, tomorrow, though nothing certain.” 
Early the next morning a second message came from him saying, “Arrive in 
Oklahoma City at 9 A. M., leave for Guthrie at 11 A. M.” And so there was 
a hearing held in Oklahoma City. 

The members of the committee agreed to take the testimony of the 
mayor and president of the commercial organization and two wholesale mer- 
chants of Oklahoma City, and of spokesmen from each of the visiting delega- 
tions. (Fortunately for the committee, there were fewer delegations present 
than might have been expected from the statement contained in the foregoing 
telegram.) It was nearly noon when the hearing was completed, and it was 
half an hour after noon before their special train got under way for Guthrie. 
The stay of the committee at Guthrie was even more brief than the one at 
Oklahoma City, as the special train departed from the territorial capital at 
3:30 o'clock. 


The Omnibus Statehood Bill in the Senate—Congress reconvened just a 
week after the committee’s hearings at Guthrie and Oklahoma City. The 
Senate Committee reported a substitute for House Bill No. 12,543, two days 
later. The substitute bill, which was introduced by Senator Knute Nelson, 
of Minnesota, proposed to strike out all after the enacting clause and substi- 
tute therefor the provisions necessary to enable the people of Oklahoma and 
the Indian Territory to form and adopt a constitution and be admitted as 
one State. And then the battle was on, for the supporters of the original 
measure were in no very amiable frame of mind. The report of the Com- 
mittee on Territories had not yet been submitted, though it was understood 
to be in the process of preparation. It was also understood that the minority 
was preparing a report. But both majority and minority were too slow to 
suit Senator Quay who, alluding to himself as “a sort of political orphan upon 
that committee,” submitted a report of his own.?5 (It should be stated that 
neither the minority members nor Senator Quay accompanied the committee 
on its tour of inspection and investigation in the territories.) 

The actual facts were that Senator Quay had enough pledged votes, or 
otherwise certain support, to warrant him in the belief that the Omnibus 
Statehood Bill could be passed as it came from the House if it could be 
brought to a vote. As already stated, he was reputed to have personal reasons 
back of his urgent insistence upon an immediate passage of this measure. It 
was currently reported and generally believed that he was involved in some 
financial transactions in New Mexico in which his interests would have been 
greatly enhanced by the passage of the measure in question. By a shrewd 
parliamentary maneuver he had succeeded in having it made an item of un- 
finished business to be taken up soon after the beginning of the second ses- 
sion of Congress, thus giving it an advanced position on the Senate calendar. 
And then, confident of the support that the measure would command, he 
announced that he was ready for a vote upon the same, without debate. But 
the opposition, led by Senator Beveridge and the majority (Republican) mem- 


25. Ibid., 2d Session, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 180-86. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 599 


bers of the Committee on Territories, were equally determined that the bill 
should not come to a vote—at least, not without having been first debated 
and, in this stand, they were favored by the rules of the Senate. The parlia- 
mentary struggle which followed the attempt to force the passage of this bill 
has seldom been exceeded in intensity in the history of the United States 
Senate. 

Day after day, Senator Quay called for the “regular order,” which was 
the consideration of the Omnibus Statehood Bill as unfinished business. 
Always he was on the alert and almost vindictively insistent upon an early 
vote on the passage of the bill as it had come from the House. In this he was 
ably seconded by Senator Jacob H. Gallinger, of New Hampshire, and Sena- 
tor William B. Bate, of Tennessee, the latter being the ranking minority 
member of the Committee on Territories. On the 1toth of December, Senator 
Quay sent to the secretary’s desk, to be read, no less than ninety-eight tele- 
grams from Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, urging the passage of the 
Omnibus Statehood Bill as it passed the House of Representatives. Of these, 
eighteen were dated at Guthrie, fifty-seven at El] Reno, and eleven at Holden- 
ville, and the rest from various other places.2® Among these telegrams was 
the following: 


GuTuHriI£, OKLAHOMA, December 10, 1902. 
Senator Matthew S. Quay, Washington, D. C.: 


The Beveridge Bill would make a hopelessly Democratic state—locates Federal Court at 
leading Democratic towns and takes it away from leading Republican towns. 


Before the reading of this telegram could be completed, however, Senator 
Quay (who saw its effect, the possible alienation of Democratic support for 
the Omnibus Statehood Bill) was on his feet to interrupt the reading, merely 
remarking, “That telegram got in by mistake, Mr. President,” which explana- 
tion was greeted by laughter. 

The report of the Senate Committee on Territories (Senate Report No. 
2206, 57th Congress, First Session) was presented December 10.27 It openly 
questioned the wisdom of admitting Arizona and New Mexico into the Union 
as states at that time, presenting voluminous reasons in support of the 
stand thus taken. On the other hand, it presented a strong argument for 
the admission of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as one state. While 
there can be no doubt that the majority members of the committee were sin- 
cere in their desire to grant the boon of statehood to Oklahoma and the Indian 
Territory, there was no doubt a temptation to use the single statehood sub- 
stitute as a club for the destruction of the well laid plans for the admission of 
the other two territories. The minority report of the Committee on Territories 
was signed by Senators William B. Bate, Henry Heitfeld, Joseph W. Bailey 
and Thomas M. Patterson.28 Senators Bate and Bailey were from the South and 
favored ultimate admission of Oklahoma and Indian Territory as separate 
states for the purely partisan reason that it would add to the strength of their 


26. Ibid., pp. 175-78. 
27. Ibid., pp. 187-94. 
28. Ibid., pp. 297-99. 


600 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


own party in the Upper House of Congress. Senator Patterson, on the other 
hand, believed that Oklahoma and the Indian Territory should be joined in 
the formation of one State—in fact, he had introduced a bill for that purpose 
—but, representing a Rocky Mountain State, as he did, he could not bring 
himself to oppose the admission of Arizona and New Mexico. Senator Heit- 
feld, too, was from a Rocky Mountain State (Idaho) and, moreover, a partisan 
Republican who was ever ready to follow the leadership of such a man as 
Senator Quay; indeed, the only wonder was that he did not sign the Quay 
report instead of the minority report. Unlike the Quay report, the minority 
report did discuss the possibility of joint statehood for Oklahoma and the 
Indian Territory, though it must be admitted that such discussion was 
couched in terms of sarcastic hostility. 

Two days after Congress convened, an enthusiastic single statehood con- 
vention was held at Claremore (December 3, 1902). Strong resolutions were 
adopted, protesting against the passage of the Omnibus Bill?® and a delega- 
tion of leading citizens of both territories was sent post haste to Washington 
to do all that was possible to defeat that measure and seek to secure the 
passage of a single statehood bill instead. 

When the substitute for the Omnibus Statehood Bill was introduced, Sen 
ator Augustus O. Bacon, of Georgia, immediately introduced an amendment 
to it, proposing to strike out “Oklahoma” and insert “Jefferson” in lieu thereof.?° 


The Oklahoma City Convention—The pressure of other business caused 
a lull in activity on the statehood measure as the holiday season drew near. 
However, it did not alter the determination of Senator Quay and his asso- 
ciates to push it to a final vote and there was evidence of renewed zeal when 
Congress reconvened after the Christmas recess. On the 7th of January, Sen- 
ator Quay sent to the secretary’s desk nineteen telegrams, each of which urged 
the passage of the Omnibus Statehood Bill.31_ Of these, eleven were from 
Holdenville, one was from Guthrie and the rest were from citizens of New 
Mexico—mostly from Carlsbad. On the day before (January 6, 1903), a con- 
vention in the interest of single statehood was held at Oklahoma City. In its 
attendance and enthusiasm it far exceeded any gathering that had ever been 
brought together as a territorial convention for any purpose, up to that time. 
Indeed, there was not at that time a single auditorium in Oklahoma large 
enough to give even standing room for all the delegates. Once more a declara- 
tion was prepared for presentation to the Senate of the United States, pro- 
testing against the passage of the Omnibus Statehood Bill and urging single 
statehood for the Indian and Oklahoma territories. Another delegation was 
selected to visit Washington for the purpose of personally pleading with the 
Senators in behalf of the substitute bill. 


The Omnibus Statehood Bill Talked to Death—Doggedly persevering, 
Senator Quay continued to make a fight for a vote on the Omnibus Statehood 


29. Ibid., pp. 45-46. 

30. Ibid., pp. 186-87. 

31. Ibid., pp. 554-55. 

32. Ibid., pp. 564-74, XLV-5. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 601 


Bill.38 Always some Senator would object that he had not yet “concluded 
speaking” on the question. And so, from day to day the motion to set a date 
upon which to vote could be taken on the measure was deferred. As the end 
of the session drew near, important appropriation bills consumed a relatively 
larger proportion of each day in the Senate until, finally the Omnibus State- 
hood Bill was crowded out altogether. It may be said that the attempt to 
force the Omnibus Statehood Bill through the Senate, and that, too, early in 
the session and practically without debate, indicated the highwater mark of 
the separate statehood movement in Oklahoma. To be sure, other separate 
statehood bills were destined to be introduced in Congress, but with small 
expectation that they would receive any serious consideration. 

Another convention, in the interest of single statehood, was held at Shaw- 
nee, July 24, 1903. At this meeting, a permanent organization, known as 
the Single Statehood Executive Committee, was effected. This committee, 
of which Charles G. Jones, of Oklahoma City, was chairman, and Henry P. 
Robbins, of McAlester, was secretary, kept up a continuous organization from 
that time until after the passage of the Enabling Act, nearly three years later. 


Statehood Legislation in the Fifty-eighth Congress—lIn the first (special) 
session of the 58th Congress, three bills proposing statehood for Oklahoma 
were introduced. On the first day of the session (November 9, 1903), Rep- 
resentative Stephens, of Texas, introduced a bill (House Bill No. 24) “to 
provide for the union of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory and to 
enable the people thereof to form a constitution and state government, and 
to be admitted to the Union as the State of Oklahoma, on an equal foot- 
ing with the original states, and to make donations of public lands to said 
state.” On the 18th of November, Delegate McGuire introduced House Bill 
No. 4,078, which was a single statehood measure. On the 23d of November, 
Senator Quay introduced Senate Bill No. 1,693, which was designed to pro- 
vide for separate statehood for Oklahoma Territory alone. 

In the second session of the 58th Congress—House Bill No. 10,010, by 
Representative James M. Robinson, of Indiana; House Bills Nos. 14,671 
and 14,749, both by Representative Edward L. Hamilton, of Michigan; and 
Senate Bill No. 3,625, by Senator Matthew S. Quay, of Pennsylvania. The 
Robinson Bill was introduced for the purpose of enabling Oklahoma and the 
Indian Territory to be admitted as one state, as were also Mr. Hamilton’s first 
bill and the Quay bill in the Senate. Mr. Hamilton’s second bill (House Bill 
14,749) was an omnibus bill in that it sought to provide joint statehood for 
Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, and joint statehood for Arizona and New 
Mexico. There was comparatively no opposition in the House on the pro- 
posed union of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory in the formation of one 
state, though Mr. Moon, of Tennessee, did manifest grave concern over the 
proposed proceeding because it did not offer to the people of the Indian 
Territory an alternative vote on the matter. Most of the debate over the bill 
was on the proposed union of Arizona and New Mexico in the formation of 
one state. After extended debate and a number of amendments, this measure, 


33. Appendix XLV-6. 


602 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


commonly known as the Hamilton Statehood Bill, passed the House of Repre- 
sentatives, April 19, 1904. 

When the Hamilton Statehood Bill was sent to the Senate, it was referred 
to the Committee on Territories, which did not render any report until after 
the beginning of the last session. 

When it was reported, it became the subject of exhaustive amendment 
and debate. It finally passed the Senate in amended form, providing for the 
admission of Oklahoma and New Mexico, but eliminating all reference to 
Arizona. The House of Representatives concurred in the Senate amendments, 
and statehood legislation was deadlocked for the time being, Speaker Cannon 
refusing to permit any change in the House rules. 

The last statehood convention was held at Oklahoma City, July 12, 1905. 
It was a comparatively harmonious gathering, as there was little reason for 
anyone to hold further hope for the possibility of separate statehood. In 
December, following, a delegation of nearly one hundred representative citi- 
zens went to Washington, where several weeks were spent interviewing 
members of the Senate and House of Representatives in the interest of 
statehood for Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. 


The Passage and Approval of the Enabling Act—In the 59th Congress 
a number of statehood bills were introduced during the first session. Sen- 
ate Bill No. 1,158, by Senator Beveridge, proposed joint statehood for the 
Oklahoma and Indian Territory and joint statehood for Arizona and New 
Mexico. In the House of Representatives, three bills (Nos. 183, 441 and 
3,186) were introduced by Representatives Frank Clark, of Florida; Stephens, 
of Texas; and Hamilton, of Michigan. Mr. Hamilton subsequently introduced 
two more statehood measures (Nos. 10,719 and 12,707) both of which were 
omnibus bills, proposing statehood for Arizona and New Mexico as well as 
for Oklahoma and the Indian Territory. House Bill No. 12,707, popularly 
known as the Hamilton Statehood Bill, passed the House of Representatives 
after debate and amendment, January 25, 1906. Thence it went to the Senate, 
where practically all of the debate related to Arizona and New Mexico. On 
March 9g, 1906, the Senate voted to strike out all reference to Arizona and 
then voted to admit Oklahoma and Indian Territory as one state. The House | 
of Representatives refused to concur in the amendments and three months 
were spent in the deadlock on statehood legislation. After several confer- 
ences, each house receded from some of the disputed points upon which there - 
had been insistence, and agreement was finally reached on the 14th of June. 
President Roosevelt approved the Hamilton Statehood Bill as finally passed, 
and the end of the protracted state of political tutelage was at last in sight. 


Principal Feature of the Bill—The Hamilton Statehood Bill consisted of 
forty-three sections, the first eighteen of which related only to the proposed 
State of Oklahoma. The whole measure was drawn up in such a way as to 
conform as nearly as possible to the language of previous enabling acts and 
contained many provisions that had been common to most of them, together 
with such additional provisions as were found to be necessary or expedient 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 603 


because more recently enacted laws, Indian treaties or peculiar local condi- 
tions. 

The Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma was to be composed of one 
hundred and twelve delegates. The constitution to be framed was to conform 
to the usual requirements in that it was to be republican in form and was to 
be submitted to a vote of the duly qualified voters for approval or rejection, 
and the state was to be formally admitted into the Union by proclamation of 
the President of the United States. 

The state was to be divided into two Federal judicial districts and was to 
be attached to the Eighth Judicial Circuit. Provision was made in the usual 
way for pending causes in the territorial courts and for the transfer of un- 
finished business therefrom to the state courts at the proper time. 

Five seats in the National House of Representatives were apportioned to 
the new state, and the Congressional districts were established and their 
boundaries defined to remain unchanged until after the next decennial Federal 
census should be available as a basis for reappointment. The new state was 
to assume and pay all outstanding indebtedness due from the territory. 

Proper provision was made for the maintenance of a system of common 
schools. The state was to be given two sections of nonmineral land in each 
township within the limits of the Territory of Oklahoma for the support of 
the common schools, which were to be nonsectarian in character. The sum of 
$5,000,000 was also to be given to Oklahoma in lieu of similar lands which 
could not be set apart in the Indian Territory because of Indian ownership 
and because of the great expense to which the state would be put in establish- 
ing schools where none existed prior to the establishment of the state gov- 
ernment. 

The capital of the state was to remain at Guthrie until 1913 after which 
time it might be located elsewhere by vote of the people. The sum of $100,000 
was appropriated for the purpose of defraying the expense of the constitu- 
tional convention. 

The sale of intoxicating liquor in that part of the state which had been 
comprised in the Indian Territory and unopened Indian reservations in Okla- 
homa Territory was to be prohibited for a period of twenty-one years. 


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CHAPTER XLVI. 
THE DAWES COMMISSION. 


The commission to treat with the Cherokees and other Indian tribes for 
the relinquishment of their surplus lands west of the 96th Meridian, in 
order that these lands might be thrown open for settlement under the 
homestead laws, continued its work throughout the Harrison administration. 
Since it was apparent that a commission with a wider range of authority 
would soon be needed if negotiations were to be continued for the settlement 
of the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes, provision was made for the appoint- 
ment of such a commission under the next administration.1 Henry L. Dawes, 
former United States Senator from Massachusetts, Meredith H. Kidd, of 
Indiana, and Archibald S. McKennon, of Arkansas, were appointed by Presi- 
dent Cleveland, on November I, 1893, as members of the commission to treat 
with the Five Civilized Tribes, with a view of securing agreements to take 
allotments of land in severalty and give up the privilege of maintaining 
separate Indian governments.? This commission, which became known as the 
Dawes Commission, was destined to play an important part in the history of 
Oklahoma from that time until the end of the Territorial Period. 

For some time before the appointment of the Dawes Commission, the peo- 
ple living within the boundaries of each of the several nations in the Indian 
Territory were divided into two openly hostile factions, with regard to the 
proposed change of conditions that was being advocated so strongly before 
Congress. None of the Indian governments recognized the right of private 
ownership of real estate; all lands were still held in common, even though 
these might be cleared, fenced, and cultivated for personal benefit within his 
nation by any Indian citizen. On the one side of the controversy that had 
arisen were the Indian citizens—the full-bloods being the extremely con- 
servative element in the group—who remained unalterably opposed to any 
change whatsoever; on the other, were the thousands of white intruders? and 


1. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 35, pp. 645-46. 


2. The following editorial appeared in the “Indian Chieftain,” Vinita, Indian Territory, 
on June 29, 1893: 

‘It has been suggested that Agent Bennett call a convention at some future time to 
discuss the matter of a change of government for the five tribes. This is, we think, a good 
suggestion and will, no doubt, meet with the approval of all who realize that a change is 
inevitable. If the Indian nations would have a voice in shaping the course of the coming 
changes they should certainly take some immediate, intelligent action and make their 
wants known before Congress meets again. It is utterly useless for us to longer argue 
that we do not want a change, and for this reason refuse to act in the matter. A change 
in ‘tad present system will come, and if we act the part of wisdom we will have a hand 
in the matter.” 


3. “If there is any class of people in this country that are really in the ascendancy, it 
certainly must be the so-called intruders. They are not only here, and, it seems here to 
stay, but their numbers are increasing every day. They have, in a measure, immunity 
from the laws, either Indian or United States. They are enjoying as many benefits of the 
Nation as any other class, in fact more, for as a general thing they are thrifty farmers and 
business men. That their numbers will increase with each succeeding year there is little 
doubt. In fact, not until the inducement is removed, will they cease to come, namely, the 
commonality of lands.—Ibid., December 7, 1893 (editorial). 


608 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


the adopted white citizens, especially in the Cherokee Nation, who were eager 
for the Federal Government to obtain control, since the intruders had no rights 
of holding property nor any protection under the Indian governments, and 
the adopted citizens in many instances had been recently disfranchised 
throughout some of the nations. Each side had its champions among the 
local newspapers of the Indian Territory, which did not hesitate to publish 
articles and letters reflecting the spirit of bitter partisanship that had arisen. 
Public comment in the bordering states,® influenced by the railroad interests 
and politics, was extremely prejudiced in reciting the conditions that it 
claimed existed in the Indian Territory, and favored the immediate dissolution 
of the Indian governments, an attitude that unfortunately did not foster the 
spirit of arbitration among the citizens of these governments. 

The Dawes Commission arrived in the Indian Territory and established 
headquarters at Muskogee, about the middle of January, 1894. It immediately 
published a letter addressed to the Indian citizens of the Five Civilized 
Tribes, “embodying advice and warning” with reference to the work that had 
been committed to its care. After calling attention to conditions in general,® 
the three steps involved in this work were specifically stated: 


First. Allotment of lands among owners so that each will hold his share in severalty. 
Second. An abandonment of tribal organizations. 
Third. The organization of territorial government, or union with Oklahoma. 


The letter made it very plain that these steps inevitably would be taken in 
the near future; that it was not a question whether a division of land was to 
be made, but rather “in what method it shall be done.” 

A convention of delegates from each of the Five Civilized Tribes was 
called to meet the Dawes Commission at Checotah on February 19, 1894. In 
a personal address before the convention, Commissioner Dawes again stressed 
the fact that the Government Commission was in earnest with regard to its 


“Misrepresentation is the stock in hand of the ‘boomer press.’ It turns out now that 
even Purcell is opposed to amalgamation with Oklahoma ‘boomerdoom.’ Take the town- 
site schemers away from the booming element and there would be nothing left but a 
havent Sou aoe Courier. Copied in the Cherokee Advocate (Tahlequah, I. T.), on Octo- 

er 28, 1893. 


4. Differences of opinion with regard to the rights of the adopted and intermarried 
white citizens first arose in the Cherokeee Nation in 1883, when the authorities of the 
Nation were making the per capita payments to its citizens out of the Cherokee Strip lease 
money. At that time it was held that the adopted white citizens had no right to share in 
the landed property and moneys of the Cherokee Nation. Though a protest was raised by 
these people, this continued to be the status of affairs, since no determined action was 
taken until 1893, when they organized the White Adopted Citizens’ Association of the 
Cherokee Nation, representing about two thousand families, for the purpose of ascertaining 
and protecting their rights. In that year, a large per capita payment (about $300) was due 
the Cherokees from the sale of the Cherokee Outlet to the United States; also, the act 
creating the commission to the Five Civilized Tribes had been recently passed by Congress, 
and the allotment of all tribal lands in severalty was imminent. The result was that the 
question of the rights of the adopted white citizens was an issue in more than one political 
campaign in the Cherokee Nation. A somewhat similar situation existed in the Chickasaw 
Nation, the Chickasaw Legislature having passed an act on April 8, 1887, disfranchising all 
adopted and intermarried citizens living within the limits of the nation. Thus the number 
of legal voters in the Chickasaw Nation was reduced to between five and seven hundred, 
and the so-called Progressive party was practically destroyed. 

5. Appendix XLVI-1. Letter to the President from Governor W. M. Fishback, of Arkan- 
sas, and a reply from the editorial columns of the Cherokee Advocate. 


6. Appendix XLVI-2. Extract from an address from the Dawes Commission to the Five 
Civilized Tribes, dated February 12, 1894. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 609 


work; that it intended to carry out allotment of lands in severalty and bring | 
about the dissolution of the tribal governments.7 At the end of ten days, the 
Indian delegations presented a memorial which, after pointing out that the 
five nations were progressive, law-abiding communities as far as their own 
citizens were concerned, made the following statement :8 


When the United States, either through Congress or commissioners, drives the Indian with 
the alternative of either accepting or rejecting allotment, we will be found advising our people 
to remain as they are, both in tenure and tribal government. 


During the ensuing spring and summer, a list of propositions to be con- 
sidered as a basis in the negotiations for new agreements was submitted by 
the Dawes Commission to each of the Five Civilized Tribes separately, but 
the year closed without any definite results accomplished in the making of 
new agreements. The Commission rendered its annual report for 1894 adverse 
to the stand taken by the Indian citizens (i. e., that they be left undisturbed 
in their governments and in the holding of their lands in common), and 
severely criticized the conditions it claimed to have found in the Indian Ter- 
ritory. It especially stressed the condition of the thousands of white intruders 
who remained unprotected in their acquired property interests :° it stated that 
the Indian governments were conducted by “a few able and energetic Indian 
citizens” who “unblushingly practiced corruption of the grossest kind’; it 
called attention to the full-blood Indians, who lived off in the woods to them- 
selves, and presented cases of “arrested progress,” because they were pushed 
aside by the more aggressive citizens—intermarried whites and mixed-blood 
Indians.1° 


7. Indian Chieftain (Vinita, I. T.), February 22, 1894. 
8. Ibid., March 8, 1894. 
9. Under the heading, “Over the Territory,” the following letter appeared in the Indian 
Citizen (Atoka, I. T.), for April 19, 1894: 
McAlester, I. T., April 14, 1894. 


Mr. Editor: Allow me space in your valuable paper to say a few words in regard to 
the honorable committee known as the Dawes Commission. I have met and conversed 
with the members of the said committee and find them affable gentlemen, but muddled on 
the Indian question, they seem to be desirous of doing something for the whites and non- 
citizens to alleviate their sufferings, it reminds me of the boy and frogs. We saw them 
at the district courthouse in the First District and there were at least eight jurors from 
each county in the district besides many full-bloods, also many prominent attorneys of 
the nation, and Senator Dawes had an invitation to address the Choctaw people but 
declined, so also did the other honorable gentlemen, but returned to South McAlester the 
same night and all of them made a speech to a body of non-citizens encouraging them to 
be of good cheer, that there was still hope for them that the United States would protect 
them from the encroachments of the Indians. You could detect in every word and gesture 
that the Indian question only involved one question with the Government, that was the 
land; take the property out of the Indian question and the Government would be with the 
Indians like she is with the paupers of the several states, she would not know they were 
in existence. Now the commissioners say the whites who are here must have homes, they 
had no homes before they came here, why should these Indians give or sell them homes. 
Now why not the citizens of Arkansas, Texas, Kansas and Misscuri be compelled to give or sell 
them homes before they came here, why should these Indians give or sell them homes after 
they came here. But to return to the commission, if we understand aright, they were 
sent down here to talk to the Indians and not treat with the whites for this land. Possibly 
Wwe are wrong. VOX POPULI. 


10. Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1894, Senate Mis. Doc. No. 
24, 53d Congress, 3d Session. (To make the statement that all the full-blood Indians, or 
even a majority, were poverty stricken and presented cases of “arrested progress,” at the 
time that the Dawes Commission arrived in the Indian Territory, was refuted by many 
persons who were acquainted with conditions in the several nations. Many full-bloods, 
especially in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, always lived well, depending principally 
upon their herds of cattle and horses as sources of income. Practically every one of these 


Okla—39 


610 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Before resuming its tasks in 1895, the Dawes’ Commission underwent 
some changes in its personnel. General Frank C. Armstrong (1895-1905), of 
Washington, D. C., was appointed to the place of Meredith C. Kidd, who was 
transferred to other service; Mr. Thomas B. Cabaniss (1895-97), of Georgia, 
and Mr. Alexander H. Montgomery (1895-96), of Kentucky, were added to 
the commission. Acting under a letter from President Cleveland to the Sec- 
retary of the Interior, the members of the commission addressed communica- 
tions to each of the principal chiefs of the Five Civilized Tribes on May 18, 
1895. The chiefs were personally unauthorized to act in the matter of making 
agreements involving the relinquishment of their tribal lands, since this 
power rested in the people themselves under the advice and direction of their 
national councils. Therefore, in each case, it was necessary to await the 
authorized convening of the several national councils, before any action 
toward making agreements with the United States could be taken. However, 
Principal Chief C. J. Harris, of the Cherokee Nation, proceeded to call a con- 
vention of delegates from each of the nations to meet at Fort Gibson on May 
28, 1895. As no delegation from the Choctaw Nation attended, the conven- 
tion adjourned to meet at Eufaula on June 26, at which time the delegates 
expressed themselves determined in their opposition to any change in the 
tribal governments, and reaffirmed the memorial presented by the Checotah 
Convention in 1894.11 In the meantime a survey of the lands of the Five 
Civilized Tribes was begun by the United States Geological Survey, under 
the Congressional Act of March 2, 1895. 

Throughout the summer personal interviews were held between the 
Dawes Commission and the officials of the several nations.1* On September 
24, 1895, the Chickasaw Legislature passed a resolution to the effect that the 
propositions offered by the Dawes Commission would be given due consid- 
eration, whereupon the commissioners visited the Legislature, then in session 
at Tishomingo. Soon afterward, a delegation of Chickasaws was appointed to 
consult with authorized representatives of the Choctaw Nation, but the 
propositions submitted by the Dawes Commission did not meet the approval 
of the Choctaw General Council, which passed a resolution to that effect, on 
November 12, 1895.18 Having failed to make any headway in its work during 
1896, the commission rendered its annual report to the Interior Department, 
recommending immediate legislation by Congress, that should include, (1) 
a territorial form of government to be erected over the Five Civilized Tribes; 
(2) extension of the United States courts in the Indian Territory.14 


people always raised enough in the way of crops to supply their families with corn, pota- 
toes, ete. Some of them had good sized farms, which were worked by white tenants, who 
raised large crops of cotton for the market. Also, when it came to the matter of elections 
in the nations, the full-blood vote was the strongest factor. For local controversy over the 
condition of the full-blood Indians in the Cherokee Nation, consult Appendix XLVI-3 for 
editorial appearing in the columns of the Indian Chieftain [Vinita, I. T.] and an answer 
from the Cherokee Advocate [Tahlequah, I. T.]) 

11. Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1895. Senate Doc. No. 12, 
54th Congress, 1st Session; also see the “Indian Citizen” (Atoka, I. T.), July 11, 1895, 
for the memorial of the Eufaula convention. 

12. Appendix XLVI-4. A Choctaw’s Pertinent Query of the Dawes Commission. 


13. Appendix XLVI-5. Brief review of some of the issues of the political ca i 
the Choctaw Nation during 1895 and 1896. : al CAMpe Shae 
14. Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1895. A F 
12, 54th Congress, 1st Session. geri teen dh 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 611 


On March 18, 1896, Representative Charles Curtis, of Kansas, introduced 
a bill in Congress, providing “for the protection of the peopie of the Indian 
Territory, extending the jurisdiction of the United States courts, providing 
for the laying out of towns, the leasing of coal and other mineral, timber, 
farming, and grazing lands, and for other purposes.” The Curtis Bill (H. R. 
7907) passed the House on June 6, 1896, and upon being sent to the Senate 
was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, no further action being taken 
during the session.!® 

Congress also enlarged the powers of the Dawes Commission over the 
Five Civilized Tribes, in the Act of June 10, 1896, under which the commis- 
sioners were required “to proceed at once to hear and determine the applica- 
tion of all persons who may apply for citizenship in the said nations.’’ Another 
clause in this law declared it “to be the duty of the United States to establish 
a government in the Indian Territory which will rectify the many inequalities 
and discriminations now existing in Said territory, and afford needful protec- 
tion to the lives and property of all citizens and residents thereof.” The Act 
of June 10, 1896, contained the first distinctly arbitrary legislation that was 
passed by Congress over the Five Civilized Tribes and is very important in 
its bearing on the subsequent history of their relations with the Dawes Com- 
mission.?® 

When the general public throughout the United States learned that the 
commission had been empowered to examine and determine the legality of 
applications for enrollment as citizens of the nations, hordes of people, espe- 
cially from the bordering states, began to pour into the Indian Territory, and 
present themselves at headquarters for entry on the tribal rolls that they 
might reap the benefits of the partition of Indian property. Knowing that 
thousands of these persons were fraudulent claimants, the Indians fully 
realized their unhappy plight; if they had been wary in entering into negotia- 
tions with the Dawes Commission heretofore, they now became exceedingly 
watchful before giving their final consent to any agreement. Though many 
Indian citizens were fully aware of the serious situation confronting the 
nations, the full-bloods and those citizens who were of the conservative 
group remained unyielding in their opposition and were exceedingly bitter in 
their expressions with regard to treating with the Dawes Commission. On 
its part the commission proceeded at once to carry out the provisions of the 
law authorizing the preparation of tribal rolls, and attempted to hasten the 
negotiations and completion of agreements, not realizing for many months 
the intricacy of the problems that would have to be solved and the extensive 
Congressional action that would be necessary before this work could be 
completed. 

In the face of the legislation that had been recently passed by Congress 
and the Curtis Bill that was pending, the Five Civilized Tribes took up the 
matter of entering into negotiations for making agreements. Under a call 


15. Congressional Record, 54th Congress, 1st Session, Vol. 23, pp. 6197 and 6246. The 
Curtis Bill (H. R. 7907) was withdrawn from the Committee on Judiciary on January 18, 
1897, and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.—Ibid., 24 Session, Vol. XXIX, p. 873. 

16. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XXIX, p. 321. See Appendix XLVI-6 for some of the 
causes and results of the Act of June 10, 1896. 


612 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


issued by Principal Chief Isparhecher, of the Creek Nation, an international 
council was held at Okmulgee on July 7, 1897, but the Choctaws again failed 
to send a delegation to the meeting, therefore a second council was called to 
meet at Eufaula on July 28, during which it was finally determined to advise 
the nations to treat with the Dawes Commission. Subsequently, several of 
the national councils that convened during the late summer and in the fall, 
authorized the appointment of commissioners to negotiate new agreements. 

Under a call made by Principal Chief Green McCurtain, of the Choctaw 
Nation, a convention of delegates from each of the Five Tribes met at Mc- 
Alester on November 12, 1896. At this convention a resolution was drawn 
up setting forth the propositions upon which the tribes would consent to 
enter negotiations with the Dawes Commission. This resolution presented a 
general policy of agreement, including, (1) full payment for all claims due 
each of the tribes under former treaties; (2) allotment of lands in severalty, 
share and share alike; (3) maintenance of tribal governments until all condi- 
tions set forth in the resolution should have been carried out by the United 
States; (4) compensation of not less than five hundred dollars to be paid 
each Indian citizen as an indemnity for personal losses and expenses incurred 
as a result of the dissolution of their national governments; (5) absolute re- 
fusal to recognize any union with Oklahoma Territory.17 

Under this general policy and with the further submission of certain prop- 
ositions that related to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, the Choctaw 
commissioners entered into negotiations at Muskogee. However, the agree- 
ment as completed on December 18, 1896, was almost wholly prepared by the 
Dawes Commission itself. The main provisions of this agreement included, 
(1) a deed to be executed immediately by the constituted authorities of the 
Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, conveying to the United States, in trust, all 
interest of the Choctaws and the Chickasaws in their lands in the Indian 
Territory; (2) allotment of lands belonging to each individual citizen to 
remain inalienable for twenty-five years; (3) all claims of any kind, either for 
or against the two tribes with the United States, to be submitted to the 
Senate of the United States as a board of arbitration.18 

The clause providing that a deed be executed to the United States for all 
interest in the landed property of the two nations, was seriously objected to 
by one of the Choctaw delegates, Doctor E. N. Wright, who refused to sign 
the agreement.!® This, together with the fact that the Chickasaws were not 
represented at Muskogee, called for further conference between the two dele- 


17. Correspondence between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Creek 
Nation (Exhibit G.) Consult Appendix XLVI-7 for statement of the general policy adopted 
by the Five Civilized Tribes in convention at South McAlester. 

18. Correspondence between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the 
Choctaw Nation (Exhibit D). 

19. Dr. Wright, who, as a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, had early realized the futility 
of the Indians’ refusal to treat with the Dawes Commission, had been a leader among the 
Choctaws in the movement which had resulted in the adoption of a general policy of 
agreement and the final decision on the part of the Choctaws to meet the Dawes Commis- 
sion. The members of the Choctaw Commission were: Principal Chief Green McCurtain, 
J. S. Standley, N. B. Ainsworth, E. N. Wright, Ben Hampton, Wesley Anderson, Amos 
Henry, D. C. Garland, and A. S. Williams. Dr. Wright’s minority statement, in which he 
set forth his reasons for not signing the first Choctaw agreement and which appeared in 
a Seg Re | of the Choctaw Nation and, also, in leaflet form, is to be found in Appen- 

ix -8, 


es el 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 613 


gations and the Dawes commission at Washington, District of Columbia. On 
February 2, 1897, the Chickasaw delegation addressed a letter to the com- 
mission, expressing their refusal to sign the agreement as entered into by the 
Choctaws at Muskogee; however, they stated they were willing to agree to 
allotment of lands in severalty, provided that the title of the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw public domain, under their patent from the United States, should 
remain in the two nations until allotment was completed. On account of the 
opposition to the agreement made at Muskogee, it was never ratified.?° 


The Atoka Agreement and the Curtis Act—The Dawes Commission con- 
cluded an agreement with the authorized representatives of the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw nations, on April 23, 1897, at Atoka, from which circumstance it 
has always been called the Atoka Agreement.2!. This marked the dawn of a 
great change in the Indian Territory and the decline of authority and influ- 
ence of the several Indian governments dated from that time. 

By the terms of the Atoka Agreement, all lands belonging to the Choctaws 
and Chickasaws were to be allotted in severalty so as to give each citizen a 
fair and equitable share as far as possible, considering the character and 
fertility of the soil and the location of the lands. It was provided that these 
allotments should remain untaxable for twenty-one years unless sold by the 
allottee, and also that the allottee’s homestead of one hundred and sixty acres 
could not be sold after the patent was issued. Surplus allotments over and 
above the homestead could be sold under certain restrictions. All mineral 
lands belonging to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, consisting principally 
of deposits of coal and asphalt, were segregated and reserved from allotment, 
to be sold for the benefit of all the citizens of the two nations. 

The Atoka Agreement was ratified by the Choctaw General Council and 
the Chickasaw Legislature during the following November.?? However, the 
act of the Chickasaw Legislature, authorizing the appointment of commis- 
sioners, had also provided that any agreement negotiated with the Dawes 
Commission should be submitted to the Chickasaw people for approval. 
Accordingly, on December 1, 1897, an election was held in the Chickasaw 
Nation, the returns showing that a majority of one hundred and twenty-eight 
votes were against the Atoka Agreement.” 


20. A general protest against any arbitrary action on the part of Congress was 
expressed in ‘‘An appeal of the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chickasaws” 
presented in the form of a memorial to Congress on February 17, 1897. Consult Appen- 
dix XLVI-9. 

21. The signers of the Atoka agreement on the part of the Choctaws and Chickasaws 
were as follows: Principal Chief Green McCurtain, J. S. Standley, N. B. Ainsworth, Ben 
Hampton, Wesley Anderson, Amos Henry, and D. C. Garland, as commissioners on the part 
of the Choctaw Nation; Governor Robert M. Harris, Isaac O. Lewis, Holmes Colbert, Rob- 
ert L. Murray, William Perry, and R. L. Boyd, as commissioners on the part of the Chicka- 
saw Nation.—Indian Citizen (Atoka, I. T.), April 29, 1897. 

22. Ibid., November 4, 1897. 

23. Ibid., December 9, 1897. (The Chickasaws objected to the Atoka Agreement on the 
grounds that no provision bound the United States Congress to make an appropriation for 
the $558,520.54 arrears in interest due on the proceeds of their lands sales in Mississippi, 
which had occurred sixty years previous to this time. The amount had been awarded by 
the Court of Claims, but no appropriation covering the whole sum had ever been made by 
Congress. The number of votes cast in the election on December 1, 1897, was less than 
five hundred, the number of legal voters in the Chickasaw Nation having been reduced by 
the wholesale disfranchisement of the intermarried citizens by an act of its Legislature 
ten years before this time.) 


614 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


On the same day that negotiations were being concluded with the Choc- 
taws and Chickasaws at Atoka (April 23) the General Council of the Semi- 
nole Nation provided for the appointment of six Seminole commissioners to 
enter into negotiations for an agreement with the Government.?4 The Dawes 
Commission had first visited the Seminoles during the session of the General 
Council on April 6, 1894, when a list of propositions was submitted as the 
basis for an agreement, under the general policy that was being advocated by 
the commission for all the Indians in the Indian Territory. No response was 
made on the part of the council at that time, nor was any action taken 
toward the appointment of commissioners to represent the nation. Two years 
later, under the Act of June 10, 1896, the Dawes Commission addressed a 
communication to Governor John F. Brown, of the Seminole Nation, request- 
ing a complete roll of all Seminole citizens. Governor Brown replied in a 
brief letter, dated September 5, 1896, that the request of the commission 
should be “complied with in season.”25 Over a year later, after the creation 
of the Seminole Commission, an agreement was negotiated and completed on 
December 16, 1897, providing for allotment of lands in severalty among the 
Seminole citizens and the jurisdiction of the United States courts over all 
“controversies growing out of the title, ownership, occupation, or use of 
real estate owned by the Seminoles.” This agreement was subsequently 
approved by the citizens of the nation, and was ratified by Congress on July 1, 
1898, after which it immediately went into effect in the Seminole Nation.?® 

Several conferences and considerable correspondence occurred between 
the Dawes Commission and the authorities of the Creek Nation during the 
summer and fall of 1896, resulting in a deadlock, since neither side was 
authorized to agree to the propositions submitted between them. During 
the session of the Creek Council, a resolution was passed on October 12, 1896, 
providing for the appointment of a committee to be composed of seven mem- 
bers of the House of Kings and nine members of the House of Warriors, to 
consider not only the relations existing with the Federal Government but 
also the propositions submitted by the Dawes Commission. The report of 
the committee recommended the appointment of five delegates to treat with 
the Dawes Commission and, also, to confer with similar delegations from the 
other nations as to their common interests.27 In an unsuccessful conference 
between the Creek delegation and the commission at Muskogee on December 
14, it was charged that the Creeks were acting evasively over the matters that 
had been laid before them.28 On the other hand the Creek delegation claimed 
the commission refused to answer certain propositions under consideration, 
in writing. Negotiations with the Creek Nation in 1896 practically ended 


24. Ibid., May 6, 1897. 

25. Correspondence between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the 
Seminole Nation, Exhibit H accompanying the Annual Reports for 1894, 1895, and 1896 of 
the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes. 

26. Annual Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1899, p. 87. The 
members of the Seminole Commission were: Governor John F. Brown, Okchan Harjo, 
William Cully, K. N. Kinkehee, Thomas West, and Thomas Factor. 

27. Ibid., Exhibit G accompanying the Reports for 1894, 1895, and 1896. 

28. Appendix XLVI-10. Extract from report of the conference between the Commission 
to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Creek Commission, at Muskogee, December 14, 1896. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 615 


with a letter from the Creek delegation, reiterating the insistence on the part 
of the nation with regard to three propositions; namely, (1) to provide a 
method of stating accounts and making payments to the Creeks, due under 
former treaties with the United States; (2) a provision for a reasonable 
indemnity to each individual citizen of the nation, for all losses sustained on 
account of the contemplated change in tribal government; (3) full protection 
under future state laws. A year later, an agreement was reached and con- 
cluded at Muskogee on September 27, 1897, but it was rejected by the Creek 
Council, Chief Isparhecher and some of his friends opposing the changes 
that were contemplated in this instrument.?9 

With the failure on the part of the Chickasaws to give complete approval 
to the Atoka Agreement and the refusal on the part of the Creek Council to 
ratify the new agreement with that nation, it was practically certain that 
Congress would arbitrarily assume full.control over the Five Civilized Tribes 
by enacting the Curtis Bill.2° Not only were large delegations sent to Wash- 
ington by each of the nations to oppose the provisions of this bill, but also the 
Dawes Commission itself was called to Washington to report on conditions 
in the Indian Territory to the Congressional committees in charge of the 
proposed legislation. After strenuous opposition on the part of the Indians, 
the measure finally included not only the Atoka Agreement but also the agree- 
ment that had been made with the Creeks’ in amended form. This law, com- 
monly known as the Curtis Act,3! went into effect two days after its passage 
and approval on June 28, 1898, but many months passed before some of its 
provisions could be enforced; since it provided that the agreements made with 
the Choctaws and Chickasaws and the Creeks, in amended form, should 
become effective if ratified by a majority of the voters of these tribes in elec- 
tions held before December 1, 1808. 

A special election was called by the executives of the Choctaw and Chicka- 
saw nations to be held on August 24, 1898, pursuant to the provisions of the 
Curtis Act. When the votes were counted in the presence of the members of 
the Dawes Commission, at Atoka, on August 30, it was found that the agree- 
ment was ratified by a majority of 798 votes. A proclamation was immediately 
made by Principal Chief Green McCurtain and Governor Robert M. Harris, 
declaring the Atoka Agreement in amended form, as incorporated in the Curtis 
Act, to be in full force and effect in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, 
respectively.3? 


29. Annual Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1898, p. 4. 


30. Under the act of Congress on June 7, 1897, it was provided that on and after Janu- 
ary 1, 1898, the United States courts in the Indian Territory should have “original and 
exclusive jurisdiction and authority to try and determine all civil causes in law and 
equity thereafter instituted and all criminal causes for the punishment of any offense 
committed after January first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by any person in said 
Territory.” The provisions of this clause were suspended by a joint resolution of the Sen- 
ate on July 17, pending the ratification of the agreements that had recently been negotiated 
with the Choctaws and Chickasaws and the Creeks. Subsequently, with the refusal of the 
Chickasaws to ratify the Atoka agreement, the Senate withdrew the joint resolution from 
the House in December, 1897, postponing any action indefinitely. Therefore, in reality, the 
provisions of the act of June 7, 1897, went into effect on January 1, 1898, but by tacit under- 
standing of all concerned, the law extending the jurisdiction of the United States courts 
was not observed, pending the passage of the Curtis Act that was then before Congress. 


31. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 30, p. 495-519. 
32. Indian Citizen (Atoka, I. T.), September 1, 1898. 


616 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Due to the delay on the part of Chief Isparhecher, the agreement with the 
Creeks was not submitted to the voters of that nation until November 1, 1808. 
At that time, owing to the opposition of the full-bloods and many of the 
Creek freedmen, ratification of the agreement failed by one hundred and fifty 
votes. Therefore the Curtis Act became automatically effective in the Creek 
Nation without agreement. 

The Curtis Act undertook to close up the affairs of the governments of the 
Five Civilized Tribes, and provided for a number of sweeping changes, includ- 
ing the substitution of Federal courts for all tribal courts, the surveying and 
platting of townsites and the sale of town lots, the enrollment of the citizens 
of all five tribes by the Dawes Commission and the definite determination of 
tribal citizenship, the allotment of lands, the leasing of mineral lands, the 
incorporation of cities and towns and Federal control of all tribal schools. In 
undertaking to carry out the provisions of the Atoka Agreement, as incor- 
porated in the Curtis Act, it was found that the measure was inadequate in 
administering the affairs of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, making it 
necessary to negotiate a supplemental agreement with them. It was also 
deemed advisable in order to make satisfactory settlements with the Creeks 
and Cherokees to negotiate separate agreements with each of these nations, 
even though the Curtis Act was virtually in effect over both. 

Within the five years from the commencement of its labors, the Dawes 
Commission, and Congress also, had found that treating with the Five Civil- 
ized Tribes involved more than mere “advice and warning.” Though un- 
doubtedly the great pressure from the outside, in favor of opening up the 
Indian Territory, forced the Indians living within its borders to concede to 
public opinion in winding up their affairs as separate governments, neverthe- 
less it was necessary that negotiations and the subsequent agreements involv- 
ing such changes should satisfy these Indian people. Also, any legislation in 
regard to their property should come within the constitutional limits of the 
laws of the United States, since the Five Civilized Tribes owned their lands 
under patents from the Federal Government. 

The Cherokees had steadily refused to enter into negotiations with the 
Dawes Commission for making an agreement. This opposition was due prin- 
cipally to the attitude of the Keetoowahs, an organization that was especially 
strong among the full-blood Cherokees. On August 10, 1897, a national con- 
vention of the Keetoowahs passed resolutions containing a protest against the 
making of an agreement with the United States, looking toward the closing of 
tribal affairs, and asking that the Cherokee Nation be left “to enjoy their pres- 
ent form of government.’’*4 The opposition of the Keetoowahs continued, with 
a result that negotiations with the Cherokees were not possible until January 
17, 1899, after the passage of the Curtis Act. At that time, an agreement was 
drawn up between the Dawes Commission and the authorized representatives 
of the Cherokee Nation, the provisions of which included, (1) allotment of 
land in severalty, share and share alike; (2) the executive and legislative 
branches of the Cherokee government to continue until allotment was com- 


33. Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1899, p. 9. 
34. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1897, pp. 143-44. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 617 


pleted; (3) the Cherokee Nation should not be included in any state or terri- 
tory without its consent.%5 
_ Under a proclamation issued by Principal Chief S. H. Mayes, a special elec- 
tion was ordered to be held on January 31, 1899, in the several districts of the 
Cherokee Nation, for the purpose of the ratification or rejection of the new 
agreement. Though the results of this election showed that the agreement 
was favored by a majority of 2,105 of those Cherokees who voted,?7 a vigorous 
protest was immediately addressed to Congress by a determined opposition.?® 
The agreement was finally disposed of at a joint session of the Senate and 
House Committee on February 21, 1899, when the committee adjourned with- 
out having reached an understanding, the agreement thus failing to be 
ratified.%9 

Finally negotiations for new agreements with the Creeks#? and Cherokees 
were successfully concluded at Washington, District of Columbia, on March 
8, 1900, and April 9, 1900, respectively. Both of these agreements were ratified 
by Congress on March 1, 1901.41 The Creek Agreement was translated into 
the native language and freely discussed among the people by the more pro- 
gressive citizens under the leadership of Principal Chief Pleasant Porter; as 
a result, the National Council ratified the new agreement on May 25, 1901, 
with the proviso that some discrepancies and ambiguities and certain portions 
which were not acceptable should be properly included in a supplemental 
agreement. Since a majority of the Creek people wished the citizenship rolls 
to include all children born up to May 25, 1901, and, also, expressed their dis- 
satisfaction over the method of allotment stipulated in the recent agreement, 
these points were a matter of additional negotiations between the Dawes 
Commission and the authorized representatives of the Creek Nation. This 
supplemental agreement was ratified by Congress on July 1, 1902, and sub- 
sequently received the approval of the Creek House of Warriors on July 17, 
1902.4 ; 

Many of the more conservative citizens of the Creek, or Muskogee Nation, 
who were unable to speak or understand the English language, were greatly 
dissatisfied with the changes which had been made as the result of the passage 


35. Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1899, pp. 49-59. 

86. Indian Chieftain (Vinita, I. T.), January 26, 1899. 

37. Ibid., February 2, 1899. 

38. Appendix XLVI-11. Protest to the Cherokee agreement. 

39. Indian Chieftain (Vinita, I. T.), February 23, 1899. 

40—After the failure on the part of the Creeks to ratify the agreement made on Sep- 
tember 27, 1897, their National Council provided for the creation of a new commission to 
negotiate another agreement. As a result, a Second agreement was concluded with the 
Creeks on February 1, 1899. It was subsequently ratified by the citizens of the Creek 
Nation on February 18, 1899, but afterward failed in its ratification by Congress.—Reports 
of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1899 and 1900, pp. 10 and 22-23, 
respectively. 

41. The members of the Creek Commission who negotiated the agreement for the 
nation on March 8, 1900, were: Principal Chief Pleasant Porter, George Alexander, David 
M. Hodge, Isparhecher, Albert P. McKellop, and Cub McIntosh. The members of the 
Cherokee Commission who negotiated the Cherokee Agreement on April 9, 1900, were: 
Lucien B. Bell, Percy Wyly, Jesse Cochran, and Benjamin J, Hildebrand. For information 
hes eta Babee to the Creek and the Cherokee agreements of 1900, op. cit., Report for 

’ pp. = . 

42. Op. cit., Report for 1902, pp. 84-88. (See Appendix XLVI-12, for difficulties encoun- 
tered in completing the rolls in the Creek Nation.) 


618 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


of the Curtis Act. They refused to appear before the Dawes Commission for 
the purpose of choosing allotments and they resented the departure from 
their own laws and customs, such as the substitution of United States courts 
for their tribal courts and the restriction of the powers of their legislative 
council. 

Early in 1901 a large number of the dissatisfied Creeks (practically all of 
whom were full-bloods) proclaimed Chitto Harjo, or Crazy Snake, their 
hereditary chief, as he was of the old Muskogee royal line. He forthwith issued 
a call for the National Council, consisting of the House of Kings and the 
House of Warriors, to meet and proclaim the reéstablishment of the ancient 
laws, courts, and customs of the Creek Nation. Although the whole proceed- 
ing was quiet and orderly, sensational newspaper correspondents spread far 
and wide the story of the “impending uprising,’ and so wrought on the popu- 
lar imagination of the day that the Government was prevailed upon to send 
troops to the scene. Chitto Harjo and a number of his followers were arrested 
and confined for a time.4® It is worthy to note that the troops sent to the 


‘Down with him! chain him! bind him fast! 
Slam the iron door and turn the Key! 
The one true Creek, perhaps the last 
To dare declare, ‘You have wronged me!’ 
Defiant, stoical, silent, 
Suffers imprisonment! 


“Such coarse black hair! such eagle eye! 
Such stately mien!—how arrow-straight 
Such will! such courage to defy 
The powerful makers of his fate! 
A traitor, outlaw,—what you will, 
He is the noble red man still. 


“Condemn him and his kind to shame! 
I bow to him, exalt his name!” 


Creek Nation on account of the Crazy Snake “uprising” consisted of the only 
company then in garrison at Fort Reno—a mute testimonial, but an eloquent 
one nevertheless, of the reign of peace which had come to the people of the 
Plains since the establishment of that post, only a little more than a quarter of 
a century before. 

The second agreement with the Cherokees was submitted to a vote of the 
citizens of the Cherokee Nation on April 29, 1901, but was defeated by a ma- 
jority of 1,023 votes, out of a total of 5,569 votes cast. It was reported that 
the failure of ratification of the new agreement by the Cherokee people was 
due to the opposition of certain influential citizens who were personally inter- 
ested in large tracts of land, in addition to the opposition of other citizens 
who wished all Cherokee children born after April 1, 1900, to be duly enrolled 
as members of the nation that these children might receive land allotments.*4 

Under the Indian Appropriation Act of March 3, 1901,45 Congress enacted 
legislation authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to set a time for the 


43. Alexander Posey, the Creek poet, who wrote under the pen name of Chinnubie 
Harjo, was one of the most enlightened and progressive members of the tribe. Although 
differing widely in opinion from his fellow-tribesman and kinsman, Chitto Harjo, he had a 
heart full of sympathy with and respect for Chitto Harjo, as the following lines, written 
upon the capture and imprisonment of the latter, clearly prove: 


44. Op. cit., Report for 1901, pp. 9-10. 
45. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 31, p. 1077. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 619 


closing of the citizenship rolls by agreement with all, or each of the five tribes. 
All efforts toward consummating any agreement with the Cherokee Nation 
having failed by the end of 1901, the Secretary of the Interior directed the 
Dawes Commission to receive no more applications for enrollment in the 
Cherokee Nation after July 2, 1902, this work to proceed under the general 
provisions of the Curtis Act. 

During the spring of 1902, the commission appointed four parties to repair 
to certain towns and settlements in the Cherokee Nation and forcibly enroll 
the full-bloods, nearly all of whom were members of the Keetoowah Society 
and were bitterly opposed to enrollment. Party politics having been rife for 
several years over the settlement of Cherokee affairs, the leaders of the anti- 
enrollment faction had recently gone throughout the Cherokee country, en- 
couraging the opposition to enrollment and promising that the white people 
would be driven out of the nation and that the old system of the Cherokee 
government would be restored. In a number of localities the Government 
parties working for enrollment, encountered such bitter opposition that an 
application was made by the Dawes Commission to the United States Court 
of the Northern District of the Indian Territory, for the issuance of an order 
directing certain Cherokee leaders to appear at Muskogee that they might be 
enrolled by the commission. There were instances where some of these suf- 
fered imprisonment before they would consent to enrollment. By the end of 
June, 1902, applications of 43,425 persons, including Cherokees, Shawnees, and 
Delawares, by blood and intermarriage, and freedmen, had been made for 
entry on the Cherokee rolls.4® 

On July 1, 1902, Congress passed an act (Public—No. 241) “to provide for 
the allotment of lands of the Cherokee Nation, for the disposition of town 
sites therein, and for other purposes,” this legislation (which practically 
included the Cherokee Agreement in modified form) not to go into effect until 
ratified by a majority of the voters in the nation, cast at an election held 
within a period of forty days after the passage of the act by Congress. Under 
a proclamation issued by Principal Chief T. M. Buffington, the election was 
held on August 7, 1902, the returns showing a majority of about two thousand 
votes in favor of the Cherokee Agreement.47 

The completion of enrollment in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations 
presented many difficulties, since five classes of persons had to be considered ; 
namely, Choctaws by blood and intermarriage, Chickasaws by blood and inter- 
marriage, Mississippi Choctaws, Choctaw freedmen, and Chickasaw freedmen. 
Since the Atoka Agreement was inadequate and affairs could not be satis- 
factorily administered under its provisions,#8 a supplemental agreement was 
negotiated by the Dawes Commission and the representatives of the Choctaws 
and Chickasaws, which was ratified by Congress and approved July 1, 1902. 
In an election called by the executives of the two nations for September 25, 


46. Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, op. cit., for 1902, pp. 28-35. 

47. Indian Chieftain (Vinita, I. T.), for August 14, 1902, 

48. Supplemental agreements between the Dawes Commission and the Choctaws and 
Chickasaws had been concluded in September, 1899, and in May, 1900. The first failed in 
its ratification by the Chickasaws, and the second in its ratification by Congress.—Report 
of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1900, op. cit., pp. 18-19. 


620 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


1902, the supplemental agreement carried by a large majority of the votes 
cast.49 Its provisions included especially the method of determining the citi- 
zenship rolls, the status of the Chickasaw freedmen, and the rights of those 
persons who were to be enrolled as Mississippi Choctaws. 

The work of the Dawes Commission had become more complex as the 
scope of its authority was extended from time to time by Congress. All cases 
of claimants who came forward with the assertion of Indian descent and 
demanded a right to share in the distribution of tribal lands and moneys had 
to be investigated. These claims abounded in genealogical intricacies and 
many of them were without any foundation in fact, yet the commission and 
its employees had to give serious consideration to each claim until it was 
proven to be either genuine or spurious. 

In addition to enrolling all of the Indian citizens of each nation, the com- 
mission had also to enroll all negro freedmen who as slaves had belonged to 
the Indians before the abolition of slavery in 1865. The surviving freedmen 
and all descendants of freedmen were entitled to allotment of lands. 

The allotment of lands to Indian citizens and the freedmen was a difficult 
and tedious procedure. After the survey of the lands belonging to the Five 
Civilized Tribes had been completed by the United States Geological Survey, 
additional surveys of each forty-acre tract in the more densely populated sec- 
tions of the country had to be made, so that individual allotments might be 
properly apportioned and equalized as to value. The allottee might elect to 
choose a homestead at one place and one or more additional tracts of land (to 
complete the total value apportioned) elsewhere within the limits of his nation. 
Then, too, some of the less progressive full-blood Indians absolutely refused 
to choose any allotment whatever, and these had to be allotted by arbitrary 
selection by the Commission or under its direction. 

The Dawes Commission had its headquarters and principal office at 
Muskogee, but much of its business necessarily had to be transacted in other 
parts of the territory.5° Sometimes it became necessary for a part of the 
commission and its staff of assistants to go into the field and live in camp.5! 
The Commission was often severely criticized for acting with so much deliber- 
ation in matters which many believed could have been adjusted with less 
regard for formality and red tape. With such an extensive responsibility 
devolving upon the members of the Commission, most matters of detail had to 
be delegated to subordinates and clerks, of which five hundred were em- 
ployed from 1898 to 1905. Whether selected by Civil Service examinations 
or as a result of political favoritism, many of these were not distinguished for 
their efficiency. As practically all of these employees came from outside the 
Indian Territory, this disposition to deal and to act with very great delibera- 


49. Indian Citizen (Atoka, I. T.), July 25, 1902; for “Proclamation,” signed by Princi- 
pal Chief G. W. Dukes, of the Choctaw Nation, and Governor Palmer Mosely, of the Chicka- 
saw Nation, declaring the supplemental agreement to be in effect, op. cit., October 2, 1902; 
for text of the supplemental agreement, see Ibid., July 2, 1902, and, also, U. S. Statutes at 
Large, Vol. 32, p. 641. 

50. For a short period during 1895 and 1896, the Dawes Commission had its headquar- 
ters at Vinita, South McAlester, and Fort Smith, successively. 

51. For the work of the field parties and classification of lands in the Indian Territory, 
see Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1901, pp. 32-40. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 621 


tion came to be regarded as a distinguished characteristic of all “carpet bag- 
gers” as non-resident officials were commonly called. 

Former United States Senator Henry L. Dawes, by whose name the 
commission to the Five Civilized Tribes was commonly known, and who was 
the chairman, took little or no active part in the performance of its duties 
after its organization and first session. Tams Bixby®? (1897-1905), of Minne- 
sota, was vice-chairman and the active head of the commission during the 
greater part of the period in which its heaviest work was done. He was 
appointed chairman of the commission upon the death of Mr. Dawes in 
February, 1903. Other members of the commission were Thomas B. Needles 
(1897-1905), of Illinois; Clifton R. Breckenridge (1900-05), of Arkansas; and 
William E. Stanley (1903-04), of Kansas. General Frank C. Armstrong, pre- 
viously mentioned, had the distinction of rendering the longest active service 
as a member of the Commission, and also that of being the only native of the 
Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) ever appointed as a member thereof.** 

The work of the Dawes Commission covered a period of twelve years, from 
the commencement of its labors in the Indian Territory until their completion 
on July 1, 1905, at which time the commission expired by law. During this 
time 20,000,000 acres of land were distributed among approximately 100,000 
Indian heirs in the Five Civilized Tribes.54 Out of 300,000 applicants who had 
presented themselves before the Dawes Commission claiming to belong to 
these tribes, 90,000 were found to be eligible for enrollment. The work of the 
Dawes Commission has been likened to an administrator’s settlement of five 


52. A biographic sketch of Tams Bixby, chairman of the Dawes Commission, is to be 
found in Appendix XLVI-11. 


53. Frank Crawford Armstrong, the son of Francis W. Armstrong and Ann Willard 
Armstrong, was born in 1835, at the Choctaw Agency, afterward known as Skullyville, 
Choctaw Nation. His father and also his uncle, William Armstrong, both were officials in 
the United States Indian service for many years in the Indian Territory, beginning with 
the removal of the Choctaws from Mississippi in 1831. After the death of his father, his 
mother married General F. Persifer Smith, of the United States Army. The fact that both 
his father and step-father were army officers, influenced Frank C. Armstrong to a military 
career. At the age of twenty, he accompanied General Smith on an expedition with the 
United States troops to New Mexico. Shortly after that expedition, he was commissioned as 
a second lieutenant of the 2d Dragoons, on June 7, 1855; he was promoted to the grade of 
first lieutenant on March 9, 1859. On June 6, 1861, he was advanced to the rank of cap- 
tain. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he left his station at Fort Leavenworth with his 
company and proceeded to Washington, where he tendered his resignation to the War 
Department. Joining the Confederate forces, he was assigned to the Army of the West. 
Before the end of the war he was advanced to the rank of brigadier-general, C. S. A., hav- 
ing distinguished himself in the service in the campaigns with General Forrest. In 18638, 
he married Maria Polk Walker, of Columbia, Tennessee, who was a great-niece of Presi- 
dent Polk. He became Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs during the first adminis- 
tration of President Cleveland. General Armstrong was appointed to serve on the Dawes 
Commission in the place of Meredith C. Kidd, in 1895, continuing in this capacity until 1905. 
He died at Bar Harbor, Maine, in September, 1909. 

54. In the Seminole Nation each citizen received an average allotment of 120 acres, 40 
acres being a homestead and non-taxable in perpetuity; in the Creek Nation an allotment 
averaged 160 acres each, 40 acres being a homestead and non-taxable and inalienable for 
21 years from date of patent; in the Cherokee Nation an allotment averaged 110 acres, 40 
acres being a homestead and non-taxable while held by the original allottee; in the Choc- 
taw and Chickasaw nations an allotment averaged 320 acres each, 160 acres being a home- 
stead, and all land being non-taxable while the patent remained in the origin] allottee, not 
exceeding 21 years from date of patent. The Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen received an 
allotment of 40 acres of average land, the Court of Claims having since rendered a decision 
in favor of the Chickasaws receiving full payment from the United States for all lands in 
the Chickasaw Nation allotted to freedmen. A suit instituted by the Choctaws is now pend- 
ing (1929) before the Court of Claims for full payment for all lands allotted to freedmen 
in the Choctaw Nation. 


622 OKLAHOMA-—-STATE AND PEOPLE 


estates.°> At the same time, five governments with their executive, legislative, 
and judicial machinery were merged into a constituent part of the United 
States. Under the Act of Congress on March 3, 1905, the Dawes Commission 
ceased to exist, the Secretary of the Interior being authorized to complete its 
work.5§ 

Under a provision of the Curtis Act, the five Indian governments in the 
Indian Territory were to continue for eight years thereafter, or that is, until 
March 4, 1906. When that date arrived, the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes 
were far from completion, millions of acres of tribal property still remaining 
unallotted. In the meantime, during the first session of the fifty-ninth Con- 
gress, which began in December, 1905, a bill had been introduced (H. R. 5976) 
to provide for the final disposition of all tribal affairs in the territory. It was 
hoped by members of the House and Senate, that this bill would pass before 
March 4, in order to take care of the unfinished business of the Five Civilized 
Tribes.®* A few days before this date, however, it being apparent that the bill 
would not pass the Senate and become a law before March 4, a joint resolu- 
tion was introduced in the Senate on February 27, providing for the continu- 
ance of the tribal governments until March 4, 1907. This resolution (S. R. 37) 
was approved by the President on March 2, twenty-four hours before the 
tribal governments were to have expired. Some hurried indefinite action 
was necessary with regard to the Five Civilized Tribes, since it was 
contended by many senators, chief of whom was Senator Joseph W. 
Bailey, of Texas, that unless the tribal governments were continued there 


55. Under the Indian Appropriation Act of March 8, 1905, all children of enrolled Choc- 
taws and Chickasaws, born between September 25, 1902, and March 4, 1905, were entitled 
to enrollment and participation in the division of all property and moneys belonging to 
the two nations. So, also, all Creek children born between May 25, 1901, and March 4, 
1905, and all Seminole children born before March 4, 1905, were subject to enrollment in 
these nations. Enrollment and allotment of lands in the Cherokee Nation was delayed 
pending a decision as to the rights of the intermarried Cherokee citizens, which was ren- 
dered by the Court of Claims on May 15, 1905. Further delay was also occasioned by a case 
carried to the United States Supreme Court, involving the rights of several hundred 
Cherokee freedmen. Between twelve and thirteen hundred Cherokee children who were 
eligible to enrollment received payment in money in lieu of allotments, since all lands of 
any value had been distributed before their names were placed on the rolls. The number 
of persons enrolled in each of the Five Civilized Tribes as finally approved by the Secre- 
tary of the Interior in 1907, and subsequently corrected in 1914, was as follows: 


Cherokees hc piss sis Sila RIMS Sal ouside stole 0 ale, d'%'eld 6 glelore Sralere ete te eee erie as 36,777 
Cherokees Freed mene vicki. i s.cte si, bas ss bs a age cele OIE ee De ee ee 4,916 
ChOCTA WS: Rijercletaereatateiets sc 6 Pielete rm a’ ee, ai'e wld a oceraave reine Asie tates Fateeet ohalae tener ste 19,097 
Choctaw. Freedmen? cence. cies wine eats Sc Giv 5 a6 Die eee eee ee 5,994 
Creeks) Jouiscstoe aa Gre piets wines shor etes Otc m lobia. ben eT ne ee eet 11,905 
Creek Hreedmen ye ieidee cieisiad oldie eave <= s B°e ave, GS eee ae ee Pee ae 6,807 
Chick aga wswaiic czehic tesa siete tone © sia! </od:0 bel ai oletn alcce wie eteeeel ore eae 6,294 
Chickasaw Rreedmen: tcc ohne ee s'5 60% bo ones ok eee eee 4,661 
Seminoles. 5:5 wi cuisiscd ole isacese tae soupene oe ule. e. bal te al ohe tobe he aoe ee eee aerate 2,133 


, 56. “The act of Congress of March 3, 1905, abolished the Commission to the Five Civil- 
ized _Tribes and authorized the Secretary of the Interior to complete the work, who 
appointed the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes for such purpose, which official 
assumed his duties on July 1, 1905. An Indian inspector was located in the Indian Terri- 
tory by the Secretary of the Interior, under the provisions of the act of Congress of June 
28, 1898, who had supervision of all matters within the jurisdiction of the Interior Depart- 
ment, with the exception of the work of enrollment and allotment in charge of the Com- 
mission to the Five Civilized Tribes, until July 1, 1907, when the offices of the inspector 


and the commissioner were consolidated.”—Report of the Superintendent for the Five 
Civilized Tribes for 1915, p. 8. 


57. Congressional Record, Vol. XL, 59th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 1240-65 and 5039. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 623 


would be a reversion of the Indian titles of all lands in the territory to the 
United States. If this reversion should take place, it was argued, the land 
grants made to the State of Kansas for the purpose of aiding the building of 
railroads, or to aid certain railroads in their construction, would be in effect 
in the Indian Territory and millions of acres of Indian lands would become 
the property of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company.®§ 

Subsequent to the approval of the Senator resolution (S. R. 37), Congress 
passed an act (H. R. 5976) which was approved on April 26, 1906, providing 
“for the final disposition of the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes and for 
other purposes.’*® This was the most important legislation enacted after the 
passage of the Curtis Act and the various agreements with each of the five 
tribes. In addition to providing for the continuation of the tribal governments, 
under certain limitations until the completion of tribal affairs, it also provided 
for a large amount of work that had not been authorized by law. Practically 
all the common property of the Creeks, the Seminoles, and the Cherokees 
was disposed of by 1914, the tribal government of the Cherokees being abol- 
ished on June 30, of that year, only the office of the principal chief being con- 
tinued to sign deeds. 

The Choctaws and Chickasaws, who held the title to their lands jointly, 
were the largest property holders of any of the Five Civilized Tribes, at the 
beginning of allotment. The total area of the two nations then amounted to 
11,660,951 acres, of which 6,953,048 acres were in the Choctaw Nation, and 
4,707,903 acres were in the Chickasaw Nation. This country is now included 
in twenty-two counties in the southern and southeastern sections of Okla- 
homa. In 1906 and 1907, under instructions of the Interior Department, 
1,373,324 acres of Choctaw and Chickasaw lands, containing some of the 
most valuable timber in the Southwest, were reserved from allotment. These 
timber lands, located in Southeastern Oklahoma, have since been sold and are 
now owned by large lumber companies. 

Under the terms of the Supplemental Agreement with the Choctaws and 
Chickasaws, in 1902, several large tracts of coal and asphalt lands amounting 
to 433,950 acres, were segregated from allotment to be sold and the proceeds 
to be divided equally among the citizens of the two nations. Under the pro- 
visions of the Act of April 26, 1906, all coal and asphalt lands were withdrawn 
from sale,®*! however, six years later provision was made by Congress (Act 
of February 19, 1912) for the sale of the surface of the segregated lands, 
reserving all mineral rights under joint ownership of the Choctaw and Chicka- 
saw nations. These segregated lands lay in Haskell, LeFlore, Latimer, Pitts- 
burg, Atoka, and Coal counties. Subsequently, a portion of the coal was 
sold to mining companies, but today (1929) the Choctaws and Chickasaws 
still own over 300,000 acres of the richest coal and asphalt deposits in the 
Southwest. This, together with other unfinished business, pertaining to the 


58. Ibid., pp. 3120-24. 
59. Ibid., p. 5991. 
60. Report of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes for 1911, p. 15. 


61. For debate in the Senate on the reservation of the Choctaw and Chickasaw coal} 
lands, see Congressional Record, Vol. XL, 59th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 3254-76. 


624 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


two nations, necessitated the continuance of their governments in limited 
form. Each of these nations has a chief and a tribal attorney, though the real 
power of these offices is under the control of the Indian Bureau in the Interior 
Department. The affairs pertaining to any of the Five Civilized Tribes or 
their restricted citizens (1929) are directly in charge of a superintendent 
appointed under the Civil Service rules of the Indian Bureau, with his office 
at Muskogee, where the Union Agency was first established in 1873. 

The breaking up of the five Indian governments and the allotment of land 
in severalty to each of their citizens, remain two of the most important steps 
in the history of Oklahoma, for it was not until this work was completed that 
the organization of the present state was possible. The relations between 
the Government and the Five Civilized Tribes presented an anomalous 
condition in the history of the United States, making the task that lay 
before the Dawes Commission different from that cf any Indian com- 
mission before its time. It had to treat with Indians as governments, each 
holding a patent to its lands from the Federal Union. In order to accomplish 
this work, it required the efforts of leaders among the Indians themselves, 
who had the foresight and the courage to stand before their people, the most 
of whom clung tenaciously to the old communal system of land ownership 
and were exceedingly bitter at the bare mention of any change, and to point 
out the wisest plan in the situation that confronted them. 

The annual reports of the commission to the Five Civilized Tribes show 
that the first policy announced by the commission was arbitrary and revolu- 
tionary and did not represent careful thought. On the other hand the corre- 
spondence on the part of the several Indian commissions was not vitriolic nor 
did it assume the position of charging bad faith, but rather always calmly 
pointed out the way. It was a tribute to the wisdom of these Indian leaders 
when the Dawes Commission came to think much as the Indians themselves 
did before many years had passed. 

All titles to lands covering 20,000,000 acres, or almost half of Oklahoma, 
date back to the patents issued by the Indian governments under the terms 
of the agreements made between the United States and each of the nations, 
beginning with 1897. When one considers the results of the settlement of 
Indian affairs in the territory, with the fabulous wealth that that section of the 
commonwealth has produced since 1900—an epic in itself which will remain 
in song and story—the Indians who led out in the long siege with the Dawes 
Commission deserve as much, if not more credit than other characters of early 
days, whose penchant for publicity has otherwise given them positions of 
seemingly dominant importance in the movement which resulted in the organ- 
ization of the State of Oklahoma. The personal stories of these Indian leaders 
has never been written nor has their work ever been acclaimed, but the light 
of time is proving them to have been real statesmen in the long drama that 
reached its climax when Oklahoma and Indian territories were united as one 
state. Not only did these Indian leaders point the way in many difficulties 
which the Dawes Commission and Congress had to solve, but nearly all of 
them have passed on, leaving their people to take a respected and important 
place in the political and social life of Oklahoma that holds its own even 
today. 


CHAPTER XLVII 


CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS 


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CHAPTER XLVII. 
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS. 


Before statehood for Oklahoma was finally attained, two constitutional 
conventions were due to be held. The first of these was in the interest of 
statehood for the Indian Territory alone and, as such, constituted the last and 
most determined effort in behalf of separate statehood. The other, duly auth- 
orized by the Enabling Act and complying with the provisions prescribed by 
Congress, was to be a gathering of the chosen delegates of all the people of 
both territories, and thenceforth, the dispute as to whether there should be 
one strong Commonwealth or two weak states was ended for all time. 


The Sequoyah Statehood Movement—By the terms of the Curtis Act, the 
tribal government of the Five Civilized Tribes was to be terminated March 
4, 1906. At the same time, most of the Indians and many of the whites resid- 
ing in the Indian Territory had been bitterly opposed to union with Okla- 
homa, either as territory or as state. Yet, as the time for the dissolution of 
tribal relations drew near, it was evident that some of the other forms of 
civil organization would have to be substituted for the autonomous national 
governments of the several tribes. The long fight for separate statehood in 
the Territory of Oklahoma was apparently ended, as indicated by the big 
statehood convention held at Oklahoma City, June 12, 1905, but the fight for 
separate statehood was not yet ended in the Indian Territory. Indeed, just 
about the time the statehood convention was in session at Oklahoma City, 
preparations were being made for the calling of a convention to frame a con- 
stitution to enable the Indian Territory to apply for admission into the Union 
as a state. This constitutional convention was called to meet at Muskogee, 
August 21, 1905. The official call for the selection of delegates to the same 
was as follows: 


We, the chief executives of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole and Creek nations, have in 
conference agreed to carry out the call for a constitutional convention made by the principal 
chief of the Choctaw Nation and the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, for August 21, 
1905, as being adequate and binding upon all the nations under their compact to convene at the 
call of the chief executives of the nation wherein the recording town is located. The original 
call for this convention is hereby modified and extended as follows: 

On or before the fifth day of August, each chief executive in jurisdiction as above specified 
will designate such persons as he deems proper to act as presiding officer of said mass meetings 
for the selection of such delegates and alternates. 

If, for any reason, such presiding officer should not appear and preside, then the meeting 
is authorized to fill the vacancy. A list of delegates and alternates selected as such meetings 
shall at once be certified by the chairman to the chief executives of such nations and such cer- 
tificates thereupon being endorsed by said chief executives shall constitute credentials necessary 
to entitle such delegates and alternates to membership in the constitutional convention to be held 


628 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


August 21, 1905. The convention when assembled shall have full power to direct its subsequent 
proceedings. (Signed) 
W. C. RoceErs, 


Principal Chief Cherokee Nation. 
GREEN McCurtain, 
Principal Chief Choctaw Nation. 
P. PorvTeEr, 

Principal Chief Creek Nation. 
J. F. Brown, 

Principal Chief Seminole Nation. 
Gro. W. Scort, 

Secretary, Kinta. 


The convention met at Muskogee on the date specified, with one hundred 
and fifty delegates in attendance (182 delegates had been elected but not all 
of them attended). D. C. McCurtain, of the Choctaw Nation, acted as tem- 
porary chairman. The permanent organization was effected by electing 
Principal Chief Pleasant Porter, of the Creek Nation,! as president of the 
convention and Alexander Posey, also of the Creek Nation, as secretary.” 
The vice-president of the convention was Charles N. Haskell, a non-citizen 
resident of Muskogee. An outline of the work to be done by the convention 
was made and committees were appointed, after which the convention proper 
took a recess for two weeks to give opportunity for the preliminary commit- 
tee work. 

When the convention reassembled on the 5th of September, the work of 
the committees was submitted and the process of combining, arranging and 
revising was begun. The convention remained in session several weeks, dur- 


1. Pleasant Porter was born on a plantation near Clarksville, in the Creek Nation, 
September 26, 1840. His paternal grandfather, a native of Pennsylvania, was a captain in 
the United States Army at the time of the Creek War and showed such consideration for 
the defeated Muskogee Indians that they formally adopted him into their tribe. Years 
later Pleasant Porter’s father, Benjamin E. Porter, came to the Creek country, married 
the daughter of a prominent chief, Tah-to-pee Tust-e-nuk-kee, and settled on a plantation. 
Pleasant Porter’s early life was simple, if not uneventful. His education was secured at 
the Presbyterian Mission School at Tullahassee. At the outbreak of the Civil War he 
entered the Confederate Army as a private. He saw much active service during the war 
and was promoted through the various grades to the rank of first lieutenant. The close of 
the war found him, like most of his fellow-tribesmen, penniless. He began life then as a 
farmer. His first official position in civil life was that of superintendent of schools in the 
Creek Nation, in which capacity he reorganized the educational system of the Creek Nation, 
which had ceased to exist during the war. His ability becoming recognized, his services 
were soon in demand as a representative of his people at Washington. As the commander 
of the Creek national forces during the Spiechee War, he showed not only courage but 
good judgment and tact as well. During the latter years of his life he occupied the posi- 
tion of principal chief of the Creek Nation. His attainments and integrity were such that 
he easily ranked as one of the most distinguished and influential Indians of his time. His 
death occurred at Vinita, in September, 1907. 


2. Alexander Lawrence Posey was born August 8, 1873, near Eufaula, in the Creek 
Nation. His father was a white man of Scotch-Irish descent, born about 1842, and a native 
of the Indian Territory, being a son of a white intruder in the Cherokee Nation. Alexan- 
der Posey’s mother was a full-blood Creek Indian woman. Until he was twelve years old 
he spoke only the mother tongue of the Creeks or Muskogee Indians. Then his father, who 
was in independent circumstances, employed a private teacher and compelled the son to 
learn to speak English. A year or two later he was sent to the public (tribal) school at 
Eufaula. When he was seventeen years old he entered Bacone University, at Muskogee. 
There he acted as librarian, learned to set type in the printing office of the instructor, a 
small paper published by the faculty, and discovered his own bent for literary work. In 
October, 1892, he published “The Comet’s Tale,” a poem of nearly three columns, which 
gave the Indian tradition of the coming of the first ships of the white men to discover 
America. Other contributions followed. Immediately after his graduation, in 1895, he 
entered Creek politics, being elected to the House of Warriors, which was the popular 
branch of the Creek legislative council. In 1896 he was appointed superintendent of the 
Creek Orphan Asylum, at Okmulgee. In May of that year he married Miss Minnie Harris, 


MUNICIPAL BUILDING AT GUTHRIE, IN WHICH THE OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTIONAL CON- 
VENTION HELD ITS SESSIONS 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 629 


ing the course of which it labored industriously on the framing of the con- 
stitution for the proposed state of Sequoyah, to be composed of the area then 
known as the Indian Territory. This instrument, as finally completed and 
approved by the convention, was divided into eighteen articles, which were 
subdivided into 309 sections. It was radically progressive in some of its pro- 
visions, though it did not go so far in the way of detail as did the Oklahoma 
Constitution which was formulated one and a half years later. The conven- 
tion also chose four representatives to present the constitution, thus formed 
and submitted to a vote of the people, to Congress and ask for the passage of 
an Enabling Act. 

The proposed constitution divided the Indian Territory into forty-eight 
counties. Twenty of these counties were given Indian names; eight were 
named for prominent Federal officials or non-citizen politicians ; two (Wash- 
ington and Jefferson) were named for Presidents of the United States; four 
received geographic names which perpetuated the old tribal districts or 
counties ; and the other fourteen were christened in honor of as many promi- 
nent men of families among the several tribes. It is worthy of note, also, that 
nine of the counties thus proposed were approximately recreated, under the 
same names respectively, by the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, 
namely, Jefferson, Garvin, Johnston, McCurtain, Sequoyah, Okmulgee, Musk- 
ogee, Mayes and Seminole. . 

The Sequoyah Constitution was formally published to the people of the 
Indian Territory, October 14, 1905, and an election proclaimed for its ratifica- 
tion or rejection, the same to be held on the 7th of November following. This 
election, which was the first of any kind in which the whole people of the 
Indian Territory had ever participated, resulted in the casting of 65,352 votes, 


of Fayetteville, Arkansas, who was a teacher in the same institution. In October, 1897, he 
resigned his position as superintendent of the orphan asylum and, two months later, he 
was appointed superintendent of public instruction for the Creek Nation. All this time he 
was writing as inspiration prompted, his wife assuming the management of his business 
affairs in order that he might not be disturbed in his literary work. He soon resigned his 
official position to settle on his farm, near Stidham. He was a great lover of nature and 
seemed to hold communion with the birds, bees, and flowers. Then he was called to the 
Superintendency of the Creek National High School at Eufaula. Having rehabilitated 
that, he was asked to do the same for a similar institution at Wetumka, but he soon 
relinquished that to take charge of the publication of the Indian Journal at Eufaula. 
There he had his greatest literary opportunity, developing marked ability as a satirist and 
causing his fame to spread far beyond the bounds of the Creek Nation. His inimitable 
“Rus Fixico” letters, in which he humorously discussed the white man’s politics through 
the medium of dialogues between some fictitious characters, who were typical of the older 
and more conservative Creek full-blood element—Wolf Warrior, Hot Gum and others— 
who talked in the Creek-English dialect, were widely copied by the press of states far 
away from Oklahoma, where the real force of their satire could not be appreciated because 
of the fact that its objects were unknown. Because of his sympathy for the ignorant peo- 
ple of his tribe, whose interests were jeopardized in the readjustment incident to the 
allotment of lands in severalty, he gave up newspaper work to become a field agent of the 
Dawes Commission, in which capacity he rendered valuable service... In 1905 he was 
selected as a delegate to the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention and was chosen as its 
secretary. The simple, terse, clear English of the instrument framed by that convention 
is said to have been largely due to the writing and revising of Alexander Posey. May 27, 
1908, he was drowned in the North Canadian River—the loved Oktahutchee of his dreams 
and poems. His pen name was Chinnubie Harjo. His poems were distinguished for their 
strength, beauty and sentiment, and many of them were veritable music in words. ‘‘Bob 
White,” “To an Indian Meadow Lark,” “Nightfall,” “Trysting in the Clover,’ “The Home- 
stead of Empire,” and “The Red Man’s Pledge of Peace’ are some of his most notable 
compositions. 

3. The full text of the Sequoyah Constitution is to be found in the Oklahoma Red 
Book, Vol. I, pp. 623-74. 


630 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


56,279 of which were cast for the ratification of the constitution and 9,073 
against the ratification. As this was but little more than half the number of 
votes cast by the people of the same area in the election held for the ratifica- 
tion of the Oklahoma Constitution less than two years later, it is fair to pre- 
sume that there was considerable apathy on the part of some of the people 
of the Indian Territory in regard to the proposed state of Sequoyah. 

The Sequoyah Constitution was duly presented to the attention of Con- 
gress but with little hope and less show of favorable action in regard thereto, 
for separate statehood, so far as Congress was concerned, was an issue which 
would not again be revived. Among the people of Oklahoma Territory there 
was a disposition to make light of the Sequoyah statehood movement, be- 
cause they regarded it as a forlorn hope from the first announcement of the 
plan. Yet, notwithstanding the fact that it may have appeared impractical 
to those who had been through the struggle over the question of single and 
double statehood in Oklahoma Territory, the Sequoyah statehood movement 
served a very beneficent purpose in that it paved the way for the union of the 
two territories by preparing the minds of the people of the Indian Territory 
for the change when it did come. Moreover, as the people of the other terri- 
tory learned to their astonishment and chagrin, during the sessions of the 
Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, the Sequoyah movement had also 
resulted in the development of a trained and organized leadership, with a 
capacity for “teamwork” which enabled it to dominate the convention and 
virtually dictate the essential terms of the constitution. 

Parenthetically, it may not be out of place to state that there was always 
a vein of demagoguery in the opposition to the union of the two states, 
whether manifested in Oklahoma or in the Indian Territory. Appeals to 
partisan, sectional and racial prejudices were freely resorted to. A stock 
argument against single statehood much used in Oklahoma was to the effect 
that there were no public roads in the Indian Territory and that, allotted 
lands not being subject to taxation, the west end of the proposed state would 
be heavily taxed to pay for the right-of-way and construction of the same. 
On the other hand, in the Indian Territory, it was freely argued that Okla- 
homa not only tolerated saloons at that time but that it would always con- 
tinue to legalize the liquor traffic, whereas the Indian Territory had always 
been under prohibition and did not wish to be “hitched in double harness” 
with a commonwealth which believed in licensing the dram-shop. Happily, 
these and other arguments equally as far-fetched, did not serve to influence 
or affect the result, and the prejudices and dislikes of other days have been 
dissipated as the people of the two sections of the state have come to know 
each other better. 


The Oklahoma Constitutional Convention—Immediately after the passage 
and approval of the Enabling Act, preparations for election of delegates to the 
Constitutional Convention were begun. Of course there was no dearth of 
candidates in any quarter. There were to be fifty-five delegates elected from 
the organized portion of the Territory of Oklahoma, fifty-five from Indian 
Territory and two from the Osage Country. The Territory of Oklahoma was 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 631 


to be divided into fifty-five delegate districts by a board consisting of the 
Governor of the territory (Frank Frantz), the chief justice of the Territorial 
Supreme Court (John H. Burford) and the Secretary of the territory (Charles 
H. Filson), and the Indian Territory was to be likewise apportioned into 
fifty-five districts by the commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes (Tams 
Bixby) and two judges of the United States Courts of the Indian Territory 
to be selected by the President of the United States. The Governor of Okla- 
homa and the senior judge of the Federal Courts of the Indian Territory (W. 
H. H. Clayton) were to jointly issue the proclamation for an election for the 
choice of delegates to the Constitutional Convention, which election was to 
be held within six months after the passage and approval of the Enabling 
Act. 

The date set for the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention 
was Tuesday, November 4, 1906.4 Among the active aspirants for election 
as delegates to the Constitutional Convention in the various districts there 
were all sorts of men—good, bad and indifferent; able, competent and medi- 
ocre; true, trustworthy and trifling. In their respective campaigns for the 
nomination, they ran on all sorts of personal platforms and issues. One man 
centered all his hopes for the nomination on his whole-hearted support of the 
proposition to incorporate the prohibition of the liquor traffic in the body of 
the constitution ; another sidetracked every other issue in his insistence that 
the proposed constitution should not include prohibition of the liquor traffic, 
either as an embodied article or as a separate provision. Others posed only as 
partisans and their sole claim to qualification was that they had always been 
loyal and “regular” in their support of party policies. It was not strange, 
under the circumstances, that there should have been some mediocrities 
placed in nomination, or that some of these should have been elected to help 
frame the organic law of the new Commonwealth. 

As already stated, the nominations for delegates to the Constitutional 
Convention were all made on strict party lines. The Indian Territory was 
supposed to be strongly Democratic, while Oklahoma, on the other hand, 
was judged to be slightly Republican, if the average of results during its 
territorial epoch could be used as a criterion. But there were other elements 
which entered into consideration beside the normal party alignment. Okla- 
homa had long been in a state of political tutelage; its Governors and terri- 
torial secretaries and the judges of its courts had all been appointed from 
Washington, with little or no regard for the wishes of its own people; some 
of these, as well as land office officials and other appointees, had been 
selected from other states and were sarcastically referred to as “imported 
talent,” which was only a polite synonym for “carpet bagger.” But if there 
had been abuse in such matters in Oklahoma, it had been infinitely worse in 
the Indian Territory, which was regarded by certain spoilsmen at Washing- 
ton as a veritable satrapy, abounding in sinecures to which Congressmen who 
had been retired by their respective constituencies might be sent to recoup 
their political fortunes, and also as affording a means of discharging political 
obligations and dispensing favors to friends in the matter of appointment to 


4, Guthrie, State Capital, August 22, 1906, pp. 3-4-7. 


632 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


minor positions. Quite naturally, the Republican party in the two territories 
had to bear the burden of political sins of long-distance government and non- 
resident administration. Had there been a Democratic National Administra- 
tion at Washington for eight years, or even for four years, immediately pre- 
ceding the passage of the Enabling Act, this phase of the partisan aspect 
might have been viewed very differently, for the policy of the Cleveland 
administration in regard to territorial appointments had not been materially 
different from those of the Harrison, McKinley and Roosevelt administra- 
tions. 

Another feature of the campaign which preceded the election of the dele- 
gates to the Constitutional Convention was the nomination of Mr. Henry E. 
Asp, of Guthrie, as the Republican candidate for delegate from the Twenty- 
fifth District. Mr. Asp was in Washington during the time that the Enabling 
Act was under consideration, and was popularly credited with having been 
instrumental in having Guthrie designated as the capital of the new state 
until 1913. When he returned to Guthrie his neighbors and friends, as a mark 
of their appreciation of his efforts in behalf of his home town, insisted that 
he should be nominated and elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Con- 
vention. Being a Republican, he was nominated on the ticket of his party. 
But Mr. Asp was the attorney of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway 
Company for Oklahoma and this fact entirely overshadowed the personal 
element which had led to his nomination in the first place. Far and near, 
over both territories, the nomination of Henry E. Asp was heralded as an 
evidence of affinity or collusion between the Republican party and the rail- 
roads for the control of the Constitutional Convention. There were other 
railway attorneys who were candidates for delegate to the Constitutional 
Convention and some of them did not belong to the same political party that 
Mr. Asp did, but somehow their connection with the railway business did 
not come in for as much publicity as his did. While Mr. Asp was elected by 
a handsome plurality, his nomination and the partisan imputations made in 
regard to the same doubtless had some influence upon the result in other 
districts. 

The result of the election was surprising, even to the Democrats, who had 
expected to elect a strong majority of the delegates to the Constitutional 
Convention. The Democrats elected ninety-nine delegates, the Republicans, 
twelve, and one (a Democrat) was elected as an independent. Two weeks 
later (November 2oth) the delegates met, as provided in the Enabling Act, 
to organize the Constitutional Convention. 

Before the organization, there was considerable activity in the way of 
caucusing. There were several aspirants for the presidency of the conven- 
tion, but it was soon evident that most of these had no organization behind 
their respective candidacies and some of them were lacking even in the 
capacity for organization. The most potent factor in the convention was 
apparently the small group from the Indian Territory, composed of men 
who had sat together as delegates in the Sequoyah Convention, fifteen 
months before, and who knew enough of the business in hand to appreciate 
the value of concerted action, or “team work” in the matter of organization. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 633 


An attempt was made to effect an organization to defeat the group above 
mentioned, but it went to pieces before the more experienced maneuvers of 
the men who had manipulated the convention in Muskogee the year before. 

Henry S. Johnston, of Perry, was selected by the caucus to call the con- 
vention to order, after which Rev. Frank Naylor, of Pawnee, offered an 
invocation. Mr. Johnston then delivered an address, after which, Charles H. 
Filson, Secretary of the Territory, called the roll, all delegates responding 
save three, one of whom was absent on account of sickness. Chief Justice 
John H. Burford, of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, then administered the 
oath of office to the delegates. 

W. A. Ledbetter, delegate from the One Hundred and Third District, 
offered a resolution to the effect that the convention should proceed to effect 
a permanent organization by the election of a president, vice-president, a 
secretary, a sergeant-at-arms, and assistant sergeant-at-arms and a chaplin. 
The resolution was adopted, whereupon Robert L. Williams, delegate from 
the One Hundred and Eighth District, placed in nomination William H. 
Murray,® delegate from the One Hundred and First District. J. H. N. Cobb, 
delegate from the Sixty-seventh District, placed in nomination Phil B. Hop- 
kins, delegate from the Seventy-fifth District. A rising vote was taken, Mr. 
Hopkins receiving eleven votes, and, Mr. Murray receiving ninety-seven 
votes, the latter was declared elected president of the convention. Upon 
being escorted to the chair, Mr. Murray addressed the convention, briefly 
outlining the work that was before it and incidentally giving evidence of his 
own comprehensive grasp of the subject. 

The permanent organization of the convention was then completed by 
the election of Peter Hanraty, delegate from the Ninetieth District, as vice- 
president; John M. Young, of Lawton, as secretary; D. C. Oates, of Alva, as 
sergeant-at-arms; William A. Durant, of Durant, as assistant sergeant-at- 
arms, and Rev. Frank Naylor, of Pawnee, as chaplain. Subsequently, Albert 
H. Ellis, delegate from the Fourteenth District, was elected second vice- 
president. 

One of the first actions taken by the convention after completing its per- 
manent organization was to authorize the appointment of a committee to 
consider and report to the convention the beginning of its next day’s session 
as to the number and names of standing committees necessary to facilitate 
the work in hand. This committee reported as directed, the next morning, 
recommending the appointment of thirty-nine standing committees. In the 
committee of the whole convention, this number was subsequently increased 
to forty-five. It was intimated at the time that the number of standing com- 


5. William H. Murray was born at Collinsville, Texas, in 1869. His mother died when 
he was but two years old. At the age of twelve he began making his own way in the 
world, working on a farm through the summer and attending the public schools in winter. 
After securing an academic education at College Hill Institute (Springtown, Texas), he 
spent several years teaching school. He took an active interest in politics at an early age, 
followed newspaper work for several years, and spent his spare time studying law. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1897, and, in 1898, settled at Tishomingo, where he practiced law 
for several years. He then engaged in farming. He has always taken an active interest 
in public affairs. After the advent of statehood he served as Speaker of the House of Rep- 
resentatives in the first legislative session. He was elected as Representative in Congress 
in 1912 and reélected in 1914. 


634 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


mittees was unnecessarily expanded, in order to provide chairmanships for 
men whose votes were needed to put through the organization program in 
the Democratic caucus. However, a careful examination of the list of stand- 
ing committees does not indicate that it was unduly large, considering the 
variety of subjects to be considered. Whether chairmanships were promised 
to certain delegates in return for caucus support is an entirely different 
matter. 

During the first days of the convention there were many incidents that 
tended to distract attention from the main purpose for which it was con- 
vened. Many resolutions were introduced, some of which were of question- 
able relevancy and were appropriately referred to the Committee on Rules, 
while others, of doubtful expediency, were ruled out on points of order. 
Invitations to visit and address the convention during the course of its 
sessions were lavishly extended, the list of notables thus honored including 
President Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Robert M. LaFollette, Joseph 
W. Bailey, Henry Watterson, John Sharpe Williams, Robert L. Taylor and 
many others, few of whom were able to attend in person. Mr. Bryan 
responded in a letter to the convention, in which he offered numerous sug- 
gestions as to certain features which he deemed essential or desirable in the 
construction of the basic law of the new Commonwealth.® 

The convention soon settled down to systematic routine work, however. 
Its method of procedure was very similar to that of a legislative body, the 
delegates introducing “constitutional propositions” instead of bills and the 
same being referred to the proper committee. On December 20 the conven- 
tion adjourned for the Christmas recess. Reassembling January 3, 1907, it 
resumed its regular program, being in session usually both forenoon and 
afternoon of each day, six days each week, until April 19, when the constitu- 
tion as a whole was adopted. by a vote of eighty-six ayes and none in the 
negative, twenty-six delegates being absent. The constitution thus adopted 
was then signed by the officers of the convention and by the delegates, to the 
number of ninety, and their signatures attested by the Secretary of the 
Territory, Charles H. Filson. 

In addition to the constitution, the convention adopted a separate pro- 
vision submitting to a vote of the electors of the new state the question of 
state-wide prohibition of the liquor traffic, the same to become a part of the 
constitution of the state in event of its adoption by a majority vote. It also 
adopted an election ordinance for the purpose of providing for an election 
for the adoption of the constitution and for the choice of state, district, 
county and township officers and representatives in Congress. The con- 
vention adjourned on Monday, April 22, to meet again August 5. 

Almost immediately after the adjournment of the Constitutional Con- 
vention, a controversy arose because no certified copy of the instrument had 
been deposited with the Secretary of the Territory, President Murray retain- 
ing all of the certified copies in his own custody, for which reason Governor 
Frantz declined to issue an election proclamation within twenty days after 
the signing of the constitution, as framed and adopted by the convention, 


6. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma, pp. 389-96. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 635 


with Secretary Filson.7 On June 3, President Murray himself issued a 
proclamation calling for an election (as authorized by the Election Ordi- 
nance in event of the failure or refusal of the Governor of the Territory to 
do so) to be held on the 6th of August for the ratification of the constitution 
for the choice of officers therein provided.8 

In addition to the dissatisfaction on account of the refusal of the presi- 
dent of the Constitutional Convention to deposit a certified copy of that 
instrument with the Secretary of the Territory, there was much talk of 
inequalities in legislative apportionment as proposed by the constitution, 
the allegations being that it amounted to a “gerrymander.” Whether formal 
charges were filed at Washington is not known, but it is not unlikely that 
some such complaint from Oklahoma reached the authorities there. At any 
rate, a special Federal census of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory was 
ordered to be taken in July. As the consititution, if adopted by vote of the 
people, would still require the approval of the President of the United States 
to make it effective, this movement for numbering inhabitants of the several 
counties and legislative districts of the new state was suggestive of possible 
executive disapproval. On the 25th of June President Murray issued a call 
for the Constitutional Convention to reconvene on the roth of July, and,® 
three days later, he addressed a letter to President Roosevelt in regard to 
the matter.1° 

When the Constitutional Convention reconvened, on July roth, Presi- 
dent Murray read in the open session a copy of his letter to President Roose- 
velt and also President Roosevelt’s reply to the same.!! At the beginning of 
the morning session the next day, Delegate J. F. King, vice-chairman of the 
Committee on Rules and Procedure, reported the following rule from that 
committee: “That Rule No. 46, requiring a motion to reconsider any vote 
must be made on the same day on which the vote proposed to be recon- 
sidered or on the next legislative day succeeding, be suspended as to the 
action of the convention on the adoption of the constitution submitted to 
it; and that Rule No. 66 be repealed.” On motion, this report of the Com- 
mittee on Rulés and Procedure was adopted. Delegate King thereupon 
moved that the vote by which the constitution had been adopted by the 
convention be reconsidered and the motion being carried by the unanimous 
vote of all delegates present, with forty delegates absent and not voting. 

The convention remained in session six days, during the course of which 
numerous sections of the constitution as previously adopted, were recon- 
sidered and amended or modified in some of their details; among others, 
there were some changes made in the sections providing for legislative ap- 
portionment. During a brief session on the morning of Tuesday, July 16, the 
following resolution was adopted: 


Be it resolved, that when this Convention adjourns today, that it be until 10 o’clock on the 
forenoon of the 16th day of September, A. D. 1907, unless sooner called together by the presi- 


7. Journal of the Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma, pp. 447-51 and 451-54. 

8. Ibid., pp. 397-400. 

9. Ibid., p. 457. 

10. Ibid., pp. 454-56. President Murray’s letter will also be found in Appendix XLVII-1. 


11. President Roosevelt’s reply to the letter of the president of the Constitutional Con- 
vention was not published. 


636 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


dent of this Convention; Provided, that should said Convention not assemble again, in such 
capacity, prior to or on the 16th of September, 1907, the president of this Convention shall, on 
said date by proclamation, adjourn said Convention, sine die; Provided, further, that the presi- 
dent, if he sees proper, may, by proclamation, adjourn said Convention sine die, at any time 
prior to September 17, 1907. 


The convention paused for a few minutes in its last hour to pay a fitting 
tribute to the memory of John W. Foose, the aged librarian of the Ter- 
ritorial Library, whose death had occurred May 7, during the recess, after 
which the officers and delegates signed the constitution in its amended form 
and the convention adjourned. 


The Election Proclaimed—On the 24th of July Governor Frantz issued a 
proclamation giving due notice that, on Tuesday, the 17th day of September, 
1907, a general election should be held for the purpose of giving the duly 
qualified electors of the proposed state of Oklahoma an opportunity to adopt 
or reject the constitution which had been formulated and submitted by the 
convention elected therefor; for the adoption or rejection of the separate 
proposition for state-wide prohibition of the liquor traffic; and for the elec- 
tion of state, district, county and township officers. 


The Constitution—The constitution framed by the Oklahoma Conven- 
tion was, and it is, in many ways, a remarkable document. As it was finally 
submitted to a vote of the people for ratification, it consisted of twenty- 
four articles and the schedule and contained in all no less than three hun- 
dred and forty-six sections, some of which contained several paragraphs 
each. 

It was generally regarded as one of the most radical instruments of its 
class that had been yet formulated and adopted, as well as one of the most 
comprehensive, containing about 45,000 words in all. It embodied much mat- 
ter in detail that, in other and older states, was covered by statutory legis- 
lative enactments. One of its most important features was and is Article 
IX, which deals with corporations in general and with the duties and powers 
of the State Corporation Commission, in particular. This commission is 
clothed with supreme authority in all matters pertaining to public service 
corporations. The rights of the initiative and the referendum were reserved 
to the people of the state, both in legislation and in constitutional changes, 
and to the people of the various municipalities in the matter of local ordi- 
nance or charters. The eight-hour day was given constitutional recognition 
in all public work and in the mines of Oklahoma. It was provided that the 
defense of contributory negligence should be a question of fact to be deter- 
mined by the jury. Practically all of the state officers are elective. There 
were many other features which might have been regarded as decidedly 
novel in most of the conservative older states. That the constitution may 
have gone too far in the matter of detail in some matters seems to be evi- 
denced by the numerous and costly efforts that have since been made to 
have it amended or modified in some particulars. Yet, most of the men who 
helped to frame it were sincere and it represents their ideals as nearly as the 
same could be reduced to concrete form. At best, all state constitutions have 


12. The text of the proclamation of Governor Frantz will be found in Appendix XLVII-2. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 637 


been the results of compromise. Actual experimental application and admin- 
istration of the basic law of Oklahoma have indicated that modification of 
some of its provisions may be desirable, yet, on the whole, it has been as 
satisfactory in its operation and effect as have those of any of the older 
states which have been on trial for much longer periods. 

The new state was divided by the Constitutional Convention into 
seventy-five counties, their boundaries defined and their county seats desig- 
nated. Of these, eighteen were identical in all particulars with the organiza- 
tions existing in Oklahoma Territory under the Organic Act. The names of 
seven other counties in Oklahoma Territory were also preserved, but 
changes were made in their territorial limits and areas, while the name of 
old Day County disappeared from the map. By division and reconstruction, 
eight new counties were added in that part of the state which was formerly 
embraced in the Territory of Oklahoma, in addition to which the Osage 
Nation was constituted a county. That part of the state which had been 
included in the former Indian Territory was divided into forty counties. 
Among the limitations and restrictions that were imposed by the Enabling 
Act, the subject of counties—county lines, county seats, and county names— 
was not included. It was asserted at the time that had the Enabling Act 
provided that recording districts in the Indian Territory should be consid- 
ered as counties and be designated by number until after the adoption of the 
constitution, the court towns should be considered as county seats and that 
no changes of county lines, county seats or county names should be made 
by the Constitutional Convention, there would have been much less politics 
in the convention. As it was, the county seats, county lines and county 
names were all used in the manipulations and maneuvers which were being 
made for the control of the dominant party in the campaign for the nomina- 
tion for state officers which was to follow. No less than eight counties were 
named for delegates sitting in the convention, a mark of distinction to which 
some of the personalities involved were scarcely entitled. But, after all, it 
was doubtless well that the convention did make counties and plenty of 
them, as Oklahoma has been remarkably free from county seat wrangles 
such as have given an unpleasant distinction to some other western states 
during the period of county organization. 

In addition to the constitution and the separate proposition relating to the 
prohibition of the liquor traffic, the Constitutional Convention also adopted 
a resolution to adopt the Constitution of the United States, an ordinance 
accepting the provisions of the Enabling Act, and an ordinance providing 
for the election on the adoption of the State Constitution and the choice 
of state, district, county and township officers. 


The Election—The several political parties put full tickets in the field. 
The Democratic ticket, which was selected by a primary election, was 
headed by Charles N. Haskell, of Muskogee (who had been a leading figure 
in the Constitutional Convention, as he had been in the Sequoyah move- 
ment two years before), as the nominee for Governor.13 The Republican 


18. Charles N. Haskell was born in Ohio on December 13, 1861. At the age of sixteen 
he began to teach school, an occupation which he followed for a number of years. While 
teaching he took up the study of law. After his admission to the bar he began the prac- 
tice of law at Ottawa, Ohio. In addition to his legal business he became interested in rail- 


638 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


ticket, which was nominated by a state convention, was headed by Frank 
Frantz, the Territorial Governor. The Republicans endorsed statehood 
while severely condemning the proposed constitution. The Democrats 
used the constitution as their rallying cry. Leaders of national prominence 
were brought into the new state to try to influence the result—William 
Jennings Bryan and William H. Taft, among others. The result of the elec- 
tion was the adoption of the constitution and the election of the entire 
Democratic state ticket, four out of five Democratic nominees for Congress 
and a heavy Democratic majority in the Legislature and county officers of 
most of the counties. 

The constitution was endorsed and adopted by a vote of 180,333 in the 
affirmative to 73,059 votes in the negative. State-wide prohibition was 
adopted by a vote of 130,361 votes in the affirmative to 112,258 votes in the 
negative. For Governor, Haskell (Democrat) received 137,579 votes; 
Frantz (Republican) received 110,283 votes, and Ross (Socialist) received 
10,646 votes. 

The people of the State of Oklahoma, having thus complied with the 
conditions and stipulations of the Enabling Act, President Roosevelt issued 
an executive proclamation,!4 by previous announcement, on November 16, 
1907, in which it was stated that, the people of Oklahoma, having complied 
with the conditions and requirements of the Enabling Act, the State was 
thereby declared to be a constituent state of the Federal Union. 


The result of the adoption of the Constitution was hailed with satisfaction 
everywhere throughout Oklahoma. The announcement of the issuance of 
President Roosevelt’s proclamation caused renewed rejoicing. The spirit of 
the time was typified by the following editorial, written by Colonel Clarence 
B. Douglas, which appeared in the “Muskogee Phoenix,” on the morning of the 
day that the new state government was to be inaugurated—November 16, 1907: 


THE Dawn. 


There is a new light in the East. The brightest day in all the history of the Red Man’s 
land has dawned. From the skies of the receding night a hardy band of pioneers, builders 
of an empire, have plucked the brightest star and with brave hands and patriotic hearts, pinned 
it to the azure field of Old Glory, adding a new luster to the Nation’s flag. 

In imperishable letters a new name has been inscribed upon the banner of freedom—a name 
synonymous with success, with beauty, grandeur, patriotism, fidelity, prosperity, loyalty and 
love of home; a name crooned as a lullaby in bygone days when, sitting in the twilight of the 
boundless prairies, the Indian mother from her tepee watched the shadows lengthen into night 
and put her little ones to sleep; a name interwoven in the matchless history of marvelous things 
accomplished by those who dared to put their blood and brain and brawn into the contest and 
win a victory where defeat seemed most certain; a name now heard along the arteries of com- 
merce, in the busy marts of trade and wherever beats the Nation’s throbbing heart of industry: 
OKLAHOMA. 

But yesterday, we were a million and a half of political orphans, misunderstood, misgov- 
erned administration. Today we stand erect, clothed with the full panoply of American cit- 


way construction. He moved West, locating in Muskogee in 1900. He first became promi- 
nent politically in the new State when he took an active part in the work of the Sequoyah 
Constitutional Convention, in the summer of 1905. In 1906 he was elected a delegate to the 
Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. His subsequent nomination and election as the first 
Governor of the new State gave him a prominent place in its history. Since his retirement 
from the office of Governor, Mr. Haskell has lived at Muskogee. In 1912 he was a candi- 
re in the Democratic primaries for United States Senator and was defeated by Robert 
. Owen. 


14. The text of President Roosevelt’s proclamation may be found in Appendix XLVII-3. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 639 


izenship, in all things the equal in fact as well as in name, of the proudest people of the Nation. 
But yesterday, to all the other states we were strangers. Today we have entered into our 
inheritance and wear upon our brow the full-flowered wreath of American manhood and take 
our place in Columbia’s household as the most favored of all the Nation’s children. But yester- 
day, the long range government by appointment, by political favorites, by telegraph and by mis- 
information, was the rule. Today we begin a new era with the ideal government of the 
immortal Lincoln, “a government of the people, for the people and by the people.” Looking 
down the darkening shadows of the past, with its obstacles overcome, its disappointments out- 
lived, its obstructions to advancement swept aside by the energy, determination and ambition of 
our people, we turn with confidence to the future, proud in the record of yesterday, masterful 
in the strength of today, and meet the future, secure in the belief that tomorrow will bring to 
us but additional triumphs in life’s battle. In this hour of our emancipation, when peans of joy 
are ascending throughout the land, when the clang of the political shackles, falling from the 
arms of freedmen, makes wondrous music for the patriots who fought in freedom’s cause, it is 
but mete that we should pause and give to those who led the van a fervent “God Bless You,” 
and tell them that they have builded better than they knew in giving to posterity the greatest 
commonwealth the Nation ever welcomed into the sisterhood of states——Clarence B. Douglas, in 
the “Muskogee Phoenix,’ November 16, 1907, _ 

The Great Seal of Oklahoma—Each of the Five Civilized Tribes had a 
great seal, which was attached to its official documents, just as such seals 
are used by the public officials of the various states and territories. When 
the Territory of Oklahoma was organized, the first session of the Legisla- 
tive Assembly made provisions for a great seal, which was in common use 
constantly up to the change from territorial to state government. 

While the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention was in session in Musk- 
ogee, Rev. A. Grant Evans, who was then president of Henry Kendall Col- 
lege, was asked to suggest a design for a seal for the proposed State of 
Sequoyah. Doctor Evans designed and had carefully drawn, a five-point 
star, in the angles of which were placed the tribal seals of the Five Civilized 
Tribes. Above the star and between the upper points was a half-length 
figure of Sequoyah, holding a tablet upon which appeared the words, “We 
are Brothers” in the Cherokee text. In the other spaces between the points 
of the star were placed forty-five small stars, emblematic of the constella- 
tion to which a forty-sixth was to be added. 

During the session of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, among 
the members of the committee named to design a great seal for the new 
state, was Gabe E. Parker, a Choctaw Indian, a graduate of Spencer Acad- 
emy (one of the oldest Choctaw schools), and of Henry Kendall College. 
Mr. Parker wrote to Doctor Evans for suggestions. The latter responded 
by calling attention to the design of the great seal of the proposed State of 
Sequoyah, and suggesting that the adoption of the same might not be inap- 
propriate. This suggestion was substantially followed in the designing of 
a great seal for the State of Oklahoma, wherein the great seal of the pro- 
posed State of Sequoyah was combined with that of the Territory of Okla- 
homa. The position of the star was so changed that one point stood verti- 
cally upward instead of one point being vertically downward, as was the 
case in the seal of Sequoyah. The five tribal seals were placed in the angles 
of the star as before, with the seal of the Territory of Oklahoma in the 
center. This design also admitted of a more symmetrical arrangement of 
the forty-five stars in five groups in the spaces between the points, putting 
nine in each group. In the surrounding circle were placed the words, “Great 
Seal of the State of Oklahoma,” and the date, “1907.” 


CHAPTER XLVIII 


OKLAHOMA UNDER STATE GOVERNMENT 


Okla—41 


Axis Ha Pa 
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SA i, hy i po a ana a ‘ , 
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aot 
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CHAPTER XLVIII. 
OKLAHOMA UNDER STATE GOVERNMENT 


On the day appointed by the proclamation of President Roosevelt for the 
inauguration of the state government (November 16, 1907), a great concourse 
of people from all parts of the state gathered at Guthrie to witness the cere- 
monies incident to that auspicious occasion. The prescribed oath of office was 
administered to all of the newly elected state officers and, amid general rejoic- 
ng: the two territories were reunited to form a single state in the American 

nion. 

One of the first official acts of Governor Haskell! was to appoint and com- 
mission Robert L. Owen and Thomas P. Gore, the Democratic nominees for 
the United States Senate, as Senators from the new State of Oklahoma. When 
Congress convened two weeks later, however, the Senate refused to recognize 
the appointments thus made, holding, according to precedents previously 
established, that governors of states had the right to fill vacancies occasioned 
by death, resignation or removal from office, but not otherwise. 

The Supreme Court was duly organized the same day, Robert L. Williams, 
who had been a delegate in the Constitutional Convention, and who had been 
elected one of the justices of the Supreme Court, being chosen by his col- 
leagues as chief justice. 

Another notable incident of the inauguration of the state government was 
that the saloons throughout the state generally closed their doors in conform- 
ity with the provisions of the state constitution. Many liquor dealers consulted 
their attorneys, and quite a few of them tried to break into court, but the 
courts did not look upon the matter with favor. 

The new state government started off with a rather ostentatious zeal for 
reforming existing abuses, either real or imaginary. On November 19, only 
three days after the state had been admitted to the Union, the attorney-general 
(Charles J. West) arrived in McAlester and filed suits against forty-eight coal 
mining companies, alleging that they collectively constituted a trust, which 
was in violation of the Constitution of the newly organized state government. 

On November 20, the Corporation Commission was organized, J. E. Love, 
of Woodward, being elected its chairman.2, The Corporation Commission im- 
mediately busied itself in the matter of the enforcement of the two-cent rail- 


1. Charles N. Haskell was born in Ohio on December 13, 1861. At the age of sixteen he 
began to teach school, an occupation which he followed for a number of years. While 
teaching he took up the study of law. After his admission to the bar he began the practice 
of law at Ottawa, Ohio. In addition to his legal business he became interested in railway 
construction. He moved West, locating in Muskogee, in 1900. He first became prominent 
politically in the new State when he took an active part in the work of the Sequoyah 
Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1905. In 1906 he was elected a delegate to the 
Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. His subsequent nomination and election as the 
first Governor of the new State gave him a prominent place in its history. He has since 
peeaee in Muskogee, New York City, and elsewhere, including one considerable sojourn in 

exico. 


2. A sketch of the life and career of J. E. Love will be found in Appendix XLVIII-1. 


644 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


road passenger fare. Within one week thereafter, two of the railway com- 
panies (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the St. Louis & San Francisco), 
came to an agreement with the Commission whereby it was proposed to sell 
tickets within the state at two cents per mile. The Corporation Commission 
had threatened to order the erection of state-line stations if two-cent fares in 
Oklahoma were not allowed in the purchase of interstate tickets. The Com- 
mission also issued an order requiring railway companies to run an extra train 
in case a regular train was an hour or more late.2 Within a week the railway 
companies conceded the two-cent fares on intra-state passenger trains; how- 
ever, they did not agree to allow two-cent fare on inter-state tickets. The 
question of forcing the railway companies to erect state-line stations was never 
brought to an issue, however. 

On December 19, State Superintendent of Public Instruction E. D. Cam- 
eron, gave out an interview in which considerable hostility was evidenced 
against the continued operation of schools in that part of the new state which 
had been included under the jurisdiction of John D. Benedict, as federal super- 
intendent of Indian schools. The State Superintendent regarded the continu- 
ance of Superintendent Benedict’s official action as nothing short of “Federal 
interference,” of which so much had been heard in the Constitutional Con- 
vention, and subsequently from several political leaders. However, as the 
schools which were still being conducted under the direction of Superintendent 
Benedict were supported and operated on funds appropriated by Congress, and 
inasmuch as none of the newly organized school districts in that part of the 
state had any funds with which to conduct public schools, Governor Haskell 
did not regard this gesture in favor of local self-government as being of essen- 
tial importance, consequently, schools supported by Federal appropriation 
continued to operate under Federal superintendence until the people of that 
part of Oklahoma could arrange to support their own schools. 


The First Legislature—The first Legislature convened on Monday, Decem- 
ber 2, 1907. The Senate organized with George Bellamy, of El Reno, the 
Lieutenant-Governor, presiding. Senator Henry S. Johnston, of Perry, was 
elected president pro tempore. In the House of Representatives, William H. 
Murray, who had been president of the Constitutional Convention, was unani- 
mously elected speaker, the Republicans seconding his nomination and voting 
for his election. 

Governor Haskell’s message was brief but comprehensive. Among the rec- 
ommendations made were the enactment of a depositors’ bank guaranty law, a 
compulsory primary election law, provision for the vitalizing of initiative and 
referendum, the provision for creation of a board of arbitration, for arrange- 
ment for sale of the school lands, a compulsory requirement for separate 
coaches and separate waiting rooms for negroes, by the railroad companies, the 
establishing of a state printing and binding plant, and a regulation of “rail- 
roads, other corporations, trusts, and monopolies.” 

The next day after the organization of the Legislature, the first bills intro- 


3. The Corporation Commission did not enforce its order compelling railroads to run 
extra trains when the regular trains were late. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 645 


duced into each house were measures requiring the provision of separate 
coaches and separate waiting rooms at all railway stations for negroes. 

The Legislature promptly got down to work and, at the end of the first 
three weeks, when it recessed for the Christmas vacation, eighteen bills had 
been passed by both houses and approved by the Governor. These included not 
only the separate coach and waiting room act (better known as the “Jim Crow” 
law), but a bank depositors’ guaranty fund act, provision for the immediate 
transfer of the five million dollars from the Federal Treasury to the custody 
of the State School Land Commission,‘ and several others which were regarded 
as emergency measures. 

The election of United States Senators was one of the first duties to which 
the Legislature had to give attention. The Democratic nominees were Robert 
L. Owen and Thomas P. Gore, who had been chosen by the Democratic pri- 
mary election. The Republican candidates, selected by the caucus of the mem- 
bers of the Legislature belonging to that party, were Charles G. Jones, of Okla- 
homa City, and Clarence B. Douglas, of Muskogee. Messrs. Owen and Gore, 
receiving the votes of the majority party, were duly elected. 

The session, which lasted nearly six months, was given over to the work of 
remodeling the Territorial statutes and enacting new legislation to make oper- 
ative and effective the various provisions of the State Constitution. Among 
the various measures in the way of important new legislation were the law 
providing for the state guaranty of deposits in banks operating under state 
charters, the law for the enforcement of the prohibition of the liquor traffic and 
provision for state dispensaries for the sale of alcoholic liquors for purposes 
not prohibited, an emergency tax measure, the law requiring separate coaches 
and waiting rooms for colored people, and many others of less importance. A 
general election law was also enacted and provision was made for the estab- 
lishment and location of several additional state institutions—educational, 
eleemosynary, reformatory and penal. 

One of the big questions before the Legislature was that of prohibition 
enforcement. Senator R. A. Billups, of Washita County, took a leading part in 
the discussion of proposed legislation on this subject in the Senate, while 
Speaker Murray led in the discussions along the same line in the House of 
Representatives. Senator Billups was for the enactment of a law for the abso- 
lute enforcement of the liquor traffic, while Speaker Murray favored a state 
dispensary for the handling of intoxicating liquors for medicinal, mechanical 
and scientific purposes, on a plan somewhat similar to the state liquor dispen- 
sary of South Carolina. The legislation enacted was something of a com- 
promise. 

A notable incident in the history of the first Legislature was the visit which 


4. Sec. 32 of Art. VI provides that the public land commission, commonly known as the 
School Land Commission, shall consist of the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor, 
the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the President of the Board of Agriculture, and 
the said commission shall have charge of the sale, rental, disposal and management of 
school lands and other public lands of the State, and of the funds and proceeds derived 
therefrom under rules and regulations prescribed by the Legislature. The act approved 
December 17, 1907, authorized the State Treasurer to receive from the Treasurer of the 
United States the sum of $5,000,000 appropriated by the Enabling Act for the endowment 
of the public schools of Oklahoma and transfer the same to the Treasurer of Oklahoma, 
subject to the direction and instructions of the Commissioner of the Land Office. 


646 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


it received from William J. Bryan December 21, 1907. A large reception was 
tendered to the “Great Commoner,” who was at his best when he addressed 
the first officers and the first Legislature in the new state. The exercises of 
the day were terminated by “a dollar dinner” in the course of which the dom- 
inant party of the new state climbed into the Bryan band wagon in anticipa- 
tion of the result of the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination 
for the forthcoming national political struggle. 

A bill was introduced into the House of Representatives for the purpose 
of removing the capital of the state to Oklahoma City and, later, a memorial 
was presented in the Senate for the purpose of asking Congress to pass an act 
modifying the Enabling Act in such a way as to permit the people of Oklahoma 
to locate the seat of their state government without waiting until 1913. Nothing 
came of either proposition, however. The Legislature adjourned on the 26th 


of May, 1908. 


The Political Campaign of 1908—In the general election held in November, 
1908, the people of Oklahoma were called upon to-choose the membership of 
the Second Legislature, except the “hold-over” state senators, whose terms 
were for four years, and to elect representatives to Congress, as well as part 
of the members of the Supreme Court and the Corporation Commission to 
fill vacancies occasioned by expiring terms. They were also privileged for the 
first time to participate in the election of a President of the United States by 
choosing presidential electors. The election resulted in a Democratic victory, 
carrying the State for Bryan, the Legislature being strongly Democratic, 
though the Republicans gained one seat in Congress. Thomas P. Gore® was 
the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate to succeed himself, Den- 
nis T. Flynn was the Republican nominee. 


The Second Legislature—The Second Legislature convened in Guthrie in 
January, 1909. Among the measures passed were those for the establishment 
of several additional state educational institutions. The general election law 
was overhauled and remodeled and comprehensive insurance and revenue laws 
were enacted. The session lasted from January 5th to March 12th. 

By a decisive vote of the resident citizens of eleven townships and four 
fractional townships in the western and southwestern parts of Greer County, 
in an election held on May 22, 1909, Harmon County was set off and organized 
as a separate political unit of the state. Its county seat was located at Hollis. 
Ten days later, Governor Haskell issued a proclamation declaring the organi- 
zation of the new county completed.® 


5. Thomas Pryor Gore was born in Webster County, Mississippi, December 10, 1870. 
After receiving a common school education he entered the Law School of Cumberland Uni- 
versity, Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he graduated in 1892. Four years later he moved 
to Texas, and at the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Reservation to settlement, in 
1901, he located at Lawton, Oklahoma. The next year he was elected a member of the 
Upper House of the Territorial Legislative Assembly. In 1907 he was nominated for 
United States Senator by the State Democratic primary, was appointed United States Sena- 
tor by Governor Haskell, November 16, and elected to the same office by the Legislature, 
December 11, taking his seat in the Senate on December 16. In 1909 he was reélected for 
the term expiring March 8, 1915. In 1914 he was reélected, but was defeated for renomina- 
tion in 1920. Senator Gore’s achievements are more remarkable because he has been totally 
blind since childhood. 


6. Harmon County was named in honor of Judson Harmon, Secretary of State in the 
cabinet of President Cleveland, 1893-97. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 647 


_ A Special Session—The Second Legislature was convened in special ses- 
sion January 20, 1910. The session was principally given over to the consider- 
ation of measures which were of local concern. However, the election act of 
the session of 1909 was repealed and a new general election law was enacted. 
A law was passed providing for the submission of amendments to the Con- 
stitution by suggestion of the Legislature. Later a concurrent resolution was 
adopted under the provisions of the act just mentioned, for the purpose of 
submitting to a vote of the people a proposed amendment to the Constitution, 
which became commonly known as “the grandfather clause,” the purpose of 
which was to exclude from the privilege of exercising the elective franchise, all 
persons who were so deficient in mental or educational qualifications as to be 
unable to read and write sections of the State Constitution except such as had 
been duly qualified electors prior to January 1, 1866, and their lineal descend- 
ants.’ The special session was adjourned March 19, 1910. 


Popular Vote on the Capital Location—The fires of local rivalry between 
Guthrie and Oklahoma City concerning the location of the capital of Okla- 
homa, had been smouldering for nearly twenty years. True, the breezes of 
excitement incident to the extension of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway 
from Red Fork, in 1896-98, to the struggle over the passage of the Public 
Building Bill in 1901, and to the tenseness of the feeling over the Omnibus 
Statehood Bill, in 1902-03, had almost fanned them into flames, but, during the 
greater part of that long interval, the rivalry was in a quiescent condition. 
Also, another aspirant for capital location honors had arisen in the enterpris- 
ing city of Shawnee. The passage of the Enabling Act with its capital loca- 
tion restricted, which stipulated that the capital should be at Guthrie until 1913 
was displeasing to the other two towns, of course, but it tended to lull the fears 
of capital removal at Guthrie and to create a feeling of confidence on the part 
of her people. However, the purpose which had been baffled only by an execu- 
tive veto away back in 1890, had remained determined all through the inter- 
vening years, for Oklahoma City had only been biding her time for another 
trial for the political mastery while she was growing and gathering material 
strength. 

When it was finally decided to make an effort to locate the capital, the nec- 
essary initiative petitions were prepared and filed and the towns of Guthrie, 
Shawnee and Oklahoma City were all named in the one petition thus prepared, 
as candidates for the location of the capital of the state. When all of the con- 
ditions and formalities incident to the initiation of a measure of such impor- 
tance had been complied with, Governor Haskell issued a proclamation calling 


7. Sec. 4a: ‘No person shall be registered as an elector of this State, or be allowed to 
vote in any election held herein, unless he be able to read and write any section of the 
Constitution of the State of Oklahoma; but no perscn who was, on January 1st, 1866, or at 
any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under any form of Government, or who at that time 
resided in some foreign nation, and no lineal descendant of such person, shall be denied the 
right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and write sections of such 
Constitution. 

“Precinct election inspectors having in charge the registration of electors shall enforce 
the provisions of this section at the time of registration, provided registration be required. 
Should registration be dispensed with the provisions of this section shall be enforced by 
the precinct election officers when electors apply for ballots to vote.’’—Session Laws of 
Oklahoma, 1916, pp. 114-15. 


648 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


for an election for the location of the capital of the State of Oklahoma to be 
held on Saturday, June 11, 1910. An exciting state-wide campaign followed. 
The amendment to the Constitution authorizing the location of the capital was 
carried and Oklahoma City was chosen as the permanent capital by a sub- 
stantial majority. 

It was generally expected that the people of Guthrie would resort to every 
legal expedient to prevent the removal of the public records from that place. 
Governor Haskell, who was in Oklahoma City on the night following the elec- 
tion, decided to forestall any injunction proceedings so far as he was con- 
cerned, so, aS soon as it was evident from the returns received from the 
election that Oklahoma City would have a majority of the votes cast on the 
location of the capital, he issued a proclamation announcing the result of the 
election and declaring Oklahoma City to be the capital of the State of Okla- 
homa. This was quite as much of a surprise to the people of Oklahoma City 
as it was to those of the state at large, as they did not expect to see the capital 
removed to Oklahoma City until 1913. The great seal of the State of Okla- 
homa was carried from Guthrie to Oklahoma City that same night. For some 
months thereafter the controversy was as to whether the people of Oklahoma 
had the right to move their capital in spite of the stipulations of the Enabling 
Act in regard thereto. The State Supreme Court still continued to hold its 
sessions in Guthrie, but most of the other state officers moved to Oklahoma 
City. The action of both State and Federal courts was invoked in behalf 
of Guthrie. 


The Political Campaign of 1910—In the general primary election for the 
year 1910, the Democrats chose Lee Cruce,® of Ardmore as their nominee for 
governor, while the Republicans selected Joseph W. McNeal,® of Guthrie. 


8. Lee Cruce was born at Marion, Kentucky, July 8, 1863. His education was obtained 
in the common schools, with one year spent in Marion Academy. His early life was spent 
on a farm. While he was quite young his father died, and after the older brothers had left 
home to do for themselves, he took his turn in running the farm for his mother. Having 
decided to take up the study of law, he entered the law school at Vanderbilt University, at 
Nashville, Tennessee. He spent only one year there, however, his law studies being com- 
pleted in the office of his brother at Marion. He was admitted to the bar in 1888. Three 
years later he came to the Indian Territory, locating at Ardmore, where he engaged in the 
banking business, eventually giving up the practice of law. The only public office he held 
before being nominated and elected Governor was that of regent of the State University, 
pe 1908 to 1911. Since his retirement from office he has been engaged in business at 

rdmore. 


9. Joseph W. McNeal was born in Marion County, Ohio, January 9, 1852. He was edu- 
cated in the public schools with some supplemental work in college. He moved to Kansas 
while still a youth in his teens, where he taught school, at the same time reading law, and 
Was admitted to the bar before he had attained his majority. He located at Medicine 
Lodge, then a pioneer border settlement and, when but twenty-one years of age, was 
elected county attorney. After serving two terms in that office he retired from the practice 
of law and organized a bank. He continued in the banking business at Medicine Lodge 
until the opening of Oklahoma, when he came to Guthrie and located on April 22, 1889. 
There he opened the first bank in that city, if not in the territory. From the first he was 
prominent in the affairs of Guthrie and the Territory. He remained in business in Guthrie 
until after the capital was removed, when he settled in Tulsa and engaged in the banking 
business. He had a very wide acquaintance and maintained a keen insight in all that was 
going on in the Territory and later in the State. He took an active interest in political 
affairs, being affiliated with the Republican party. His name was prominently mentioned 
in connection with the appointment as territorial governor in 1897, though he took no part 
as an active aspirant. The only time he ever appeared as a candidate was when he received 
the Republican nomination for Governor, in 1910. For many years he was one of the 
active directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society and was still serving in that capacity 
at the time of his death. He died suddenly at San Antonio, Texas, January 30, 1918. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 649 


The campaign resulted in the election of Cruce by a plurality of 20,691 over 
McNeal, their respective votes being 120,218 and 99,527, while Cumbie, the 
Socialist nominee, received 24,707 votes. The Democrats secured a strong 
working majority in the Legislature but the Republicans elected three out 
of the five representatives to Congress. 


Selecting a Capitol Site—When the Third Legislature was elected, in 
November, I9QI0, it was certain that it would be confronted by the necessity 
of locating and securing a site for the erection of a State capitol. A week 
after that election, the Supreme Court of the State rendered a decision which 
invalidated the special capital location election of the preceding June, because 
of imperfect ballots, at the same time holding that the location of the capital 
at Guthrie for a definite period of years, by the Enabling Act, was null and 
void. Hence, the necessity of legislative action for the immediate location of 
the State Capitol as well as for the selection of a site and to effect arrange- 
ments for the erection of a Capitol Building. 

With this situation existing, Governor Haskell summoned the newly 
elected Third Legislature in extraordinary session, in Oklahoma City, on 
November 28, 1910, for the special purpose of locating the State Capitol and 
selecting and securing an appropriate site for the same. As four sites were 
offered, in and around Oklahoma City, and one in Shawnee, there was much 
jockeying and maneuvering done during a session that lasted nearly three 
weeks. In the end, an agreement was reached, a site was selected and the 
session was adjourned in time for a Christmas vacation, preceding the con- 
vening of the regular session, in January, IQII. 

The story of the selection of a site for the erection of a State Capitol is not 
one to inspire either writer or reader. Admittedly, in such a matter, the inter- 
est of the people of the State of Oklahoma as a whole should have been 
regarded as one of prime consideration. Yet, seemingly, in comparison with 
the personal and material interests involved, on the one hand, and those of 
personal and political prestige, on the other, the interests of the State of Okla- 
homa and its people were matters of minor consideration, as also were those 
of a suitable topographic setting, landscaping possibilities and public con- 
venience. In brief, Oklahoma City might have offered a much better site than 
it did and the Legislature might have successfully demanded a more sightly 
location than was accepted. 

A tall flagstaff was erected on an eligible site, distant a quarter of a mile 
from the site described in the metes and bounds. A credulous public accepted 
the statement that the flagstaff marked the site of the proposed capitol. So 
did many legislators. Indeed, they trustingly voted for the flagstaff only to 
learn later that the site which it marked overlooked the lower and much less 
desirable site, the metes and bounds of which were defined and prescribed 
in the location bill. The State of Oklahoma has since expended more money 
for grading and filling the site thus donated than it would have cost to buy 
a whole quarter section at that time. The landscaper’s art has done wonders 
in making presentable a site upon which Nature had not lavished much in the 
way of attractiveness, but not even the art of the most skilled landscape 


650 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


architect can successfully conceal all of the unpleasant facts involved in the 
transaction. 


Governor Cruce’s Administration—Governor Cruce was inaugurated Janu- 
ary 8, 1911, with the legislative session already under way. The new governor 
made a number of recommendations, one of the most important of which 
was the proposed consolidation of the governing boards of several of the 
State institutions of learning, other than those which were included within 
the general supervision of the Board of Agriculture. This recommendation 
was the subject of favorable action by the Legislature, the State Board of 
Education being given supervisory jurisdiction over the University, the 
School of Mines, the College for Women, the six normal schools and the 
two preparatory schools. The duties and functions previously pertaining to 
the State Textbook Commission were likewise added to those of the State 
Board of Education. Another very important piece of legislation was an act 
providing for the creation of a State Highway Department. The general 
election law was again remodeled and the usual grist of local measures were 
considered and passed or rejected. 

In the political campaign of 1912, the national contest overshadowed state 
and local tickets in popular interest. Early in that year, the Republican 
leaders in Oklahoma became agitated over the personnel of the National ticket 
in the forthcoming general election. “The organization” (i. e., the party’s 
state committee and national committeeman) was strongly supporting the 
renomination of President Taft, while the progressive wing of the party, 
claiming to be disappointed in the reactionary tendencies of the Taft adminis- 
tration, favored the renomination of former President Roosevelt for a third 
term. The administration supporters were very active. There was consider- 
able friction in several of the district conventions but the Roosevelt’s sup- 
porters had an overwhelming majority in the State convention, which was 
held at Guthrie, on the 16th of March. While there was no definite separa- 
tion of the two factions, so far as distinct tickets were concerned, the Repub- 
lican Party of Oklahoma was virtually in the hands of the Progressive Party 
leaders during the campaign which followed. 

In the Democratic party, conditions were no more harmonious than they 
were in the Republican party. Representative Champ Clark, of Missouri, had 
a very enthusiastic following in Oklahoma but he also encountered a very 
determined opposition. This opposition finally crystalized in support of 
Woodrow Wilson for the presidential nomination. The state convention 
was so nearly equally divided between the forces of the Clark and anti-Clark 
supporters that, without measuring strength in a test vote, an agreement was 
reached, between the leaders of the two factions, whereby the delegation to 
the National Convention should be divided evenly between Clark and Wilson. 

Strong political pressure had been brought to bear upon Governor Cruce 
to persuade him to call a special session of the Legislature, early in 1912. 
Under the new Congressional apportionment, Oklahoma had been allotted 
eight seats in the National House of Representatives. Oklahoma had but 
five Congressional districts, hence, one of the most insistent reasons urged 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 651 


upon Governor Cruce in the effort to induce him to call a special session of 
the Third Legislature was the proposed creation of three additional Con- 
gressional districts. His refusal to accede to the suggestion necessitated the 
choice of three representatives-at-large from the whole state in the ensuing 
general election. Thenceforth, his administration become very unpopular 
with many of the leaders of his own party, due in a large measure to his 
independence in matters wherein many politicians thought that party inter- 
ests should have been consulted. 

The primary campaign was a very active one. There were twenty-seven 
aspirants for the nomination for representative-at-large in Congress. Robert 
L. Owen was a candidate for the nomination to succeed himself as United 
States senator.1° Former Governor Haskell also announced himself as a can- 
didate for that place. Senator Owen was renominated by a heavy majority. 
At the same time a mandatory amendment to the Constitution made it obli- 
gatory for candidates for the Legislature to state whether or not they would 
be bound by the vote of the people as to whom they should support in the 
Legislature in the election for United States senator. 

An initiated bill, proposing the relocation of the capital at Guthrie, was 
placed before the voters at the November election but failed to win, despite 
a large “silent” vote. An initiated bill to “recall” the Board of Agriculture, 
was adopted. The Democrats carried the state for Woodrow Wilson, elected 
a strong majority of the Legislature, six of the eight Congressmen, and gave 
mandatory instructions for the reélection of Robert L. Owen over Judge 
Joseph T. Dickerson, his Republican opponent. 

Another new county was added to the list already organized, by the suc- 
cess of the third attempt at the division of Comanche County. By vote of a 
majority. of the citizens of thirteen townships and thirteen fractional town- 
ships of the southern part of Comanche County, held on August 22, 1912, 
Cotton County was set off and organized as a separate political unit of the 
State of Oklahoma. The organization of the new county was completed by 
the issuance of a proclamation by Governor Cruce, September 14, 1912. In 
an election held November 14, following, the town of Walters was chosen 
as county Seat. 


The Fourth Legislature—The Fourth Legislature, which convened on 
January 7, 1913, was not in entire accord with the Cruce administration. 
Governor Cruce’s refusal to convene the Legislature in special session at the 
behest of party leaders, a year before, with other manifestations of his spirit 


10. Robert L. Owen was born at Lynchburg, Virginia, February 2, 1856. His father, 
Robert L. Owen, was president of the Tennessee Railroad, and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Narcissa Chisholm, was a member of the Cherokee Nation of Indians. Mr. 
Owen was educated in the schools at Lynchburg, Virginia, and Baltimore, Maryland, and 
at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. After completing his education he 
came to the Cherokee Nation, where he engaged in educational work for a time. From 
1886 to 1890, he was U. S. Indian Agent at the Union Agency at Muskogee. He has always 
taken an active interest in public affairs, was nominated (June 28, 1907) for the United 
States Senate by the Democratic primary and elected (December 11, 1907). When the new 
Oklahoma Senators entered the Senate, Senator Owen drew the lot which entitled him to a 
seat for the term ending March 3, 1913. He was reélected in 1912 and in 1918. He declined 
to be a candidate for reélection in 1924. He is engaged in the practice of law (1929) at 
Muskogee and Washington, D. C 


652 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


of independence, subsequently, had not tended to increase his popularity in 
certain quarters. This became more manifest after the legislative session 
became well advanced. Several of the executive appointments failed to receive 
the necessary senatorial confirmation. Moreover, efforts were made to shear 
the executive office of much of its power in the way of appointments but 
these, in most instances, were promptly vetoed. There was much investiga- 
tion and impeachment charges were filed against two state officials, one of 
whom resigned and the other was convicted and removed from office, several 
subordinate officials also resigning. The time for the regular session expired 
with much unfinished business still on the calendar. Governor Cruce refused 
to agree to call a special session until much of this had been cleared from the 
table. The Legislature finally adjourned, on March 17, with the essential 
appropriations not made. 

The State Election Board was reorganized in such a way as to weaken 
the Governor’s power, and the appointment of the Capital Commission was 
taken out of his hands. Impeachment proceedings were instituted against 
three State officials, two of whom resigned; the other one stood trial and was 
removed from office. Senator Owen was unanimously re-elected in response 
to the electoral mandate of the people at the general election. 

Governor Cruce called the Legislature into extraordinary session and it 
convened the next day after the adjournment of the regular session. Although 
the Governor had specified the purposes for which the special session was 
called, the Legislature continued its investigation of affairs in various state 
offices. Another of the minor state officers resigned rather than face an 
impeachment trial. The breach between Governor Cruce and the Legislature 
widened and the possibility of his impeachment was more or less openly dis- 
cussed. The special session took a forty-day recess, reassembling June 23, 
for the purpose of completing unfinished business. The session ended on 
July 5. 

The State Board of Education, acting in its capacity as a text-book com- 
mission, took up the matter of adopting school text-books for the ensuing 
five-year period, at its meeting held May 23, 1913. It had planned to take 
the matter up a year before but Governor Cruce had insisted that such action 
at that time would be premature. When it was brought up for action the 
second time, the Governor was reported to have appealed to the Board as a 
body and also to the members as individuals to defer the matter still further, 
but his appeal was in vain as, at its close, the Board decided to go on with 
its preparations for the adoption. As the result of this disagreement, he 
removed several of the members of the Board from office. They resisted this 
action by resorting to court procedure. The outcome of the affair was that 
the old adoption was allowed to stand for another year, when the new adop- 
tion was made for a five-year period by a reorganized board. 

The Oklahoma anti-monopoly law, enacted by the First Legislature and 
approved on May 29, 1908, was tested in the courts as the result of the indict- 
ment of a number of owners of cotton gins and cottonseed oil mills for a com- 
bination in restraint of trade, by the District Court of Logan County. The 
defendants interposed separate but identical demurrers to the prosecution, 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 653 


denying the constitutionality of the law under which the action was brought. 
The court sustained the demurrers. Attorney-General Charles J. West, who 
had framed the bill thus enacted into law by the Legislature, and James Hep- 
burn, county attorney of Logan County, appealed the case for the State, to 
the Court of Criminal Appeals. After a careful statement of all the facts 
in the case, the court unanimously reversed the opinion of the lower court 
and held that the law was constitutional. This opinion, written by Justice 
Thomas H. Doyle and concurred in by Presiding Justice Henry Furman and 
Justice James R. Armstrong, was regarded as not only a decided victory for 
the State, but also one which was bound to have far reaching effect in future 
cases of the same nature.!1 


The Board of Agriculture in a Wrangle—The Board of Agriculture had 
received a great deal of publicity for several years past, due to petty per- 
sonalities and puerile political methods. In 1913, disagreement in the meet- 
ing of the State Farmers’ Institute resulted in the election of rival boards. 
Moreover, a bill had been initiated providing for the abolition of the eleven- 
member board thus selected and for the substitution of a five-member board 
to be appointed by the Governor. This dispute finally got into the courts and 
was settled by decision of the Supreme Court on May 5, 1914, in favor of the 
five-member appointive Board of Agriculture. 


Political Campaign of 1914—-Beginning early in the year, there were seven 
avowed aspirants for the Democratic nomination for governor. The Repub- 
licans of the state called a state preferential convention on March 31st. This 
convention nominated a full state ticket headed by John Fields, of Oklahoma 
City, well known in Oklahoma for many years as an agricultural leader and 
writer.12 The ticket thus nominated by the party convention was submitted 


11. Judge Thomas H. Doyle was born in Worcester County, Massachusetts, December 
21, 1868. He was educated in the public schools; studied law and was admitted to the bar 
in Kansas, in 1887; settled at Perry, Oklahoma, in 1893. In 1896 and again in 1898 he was 
elected a member of the Territorial House of Representatives, and during the struggle for 
statehood he was active and prominent among the leaders of the single statehood move- 
ment and visited Washington several times in the interest of the same. He has always 
been an active leader in the Democratic party and several times represented Oklahoma in 
the National Democratic conventions. At the organization of the State Court of Criminal 
Appeals in 1908, he was appointed as one of its justices and was elected and reélected to 
that position in 1910, 1916, and 1922, retiring from the bench in 1929. He served as presid- 
ing justice of that tribunal from 1915 to 1923. He has been a director and vice-president 
of the Oklahoma Historical Society for many years. He was elected president of the Okla- 
homa State Parks Association at its organization in 1929. He was also selected as one 
of the organizers of the American Law Institute. 


12. John Fields was born on a farm near Davenport, Iowa, July 29, 1871. He gradu- 
ated from the Pennsylvania State College in 1891 and became a technical expert in chem- 
istry. He was made assistant chemist of the Oklahoma Experiment Station in 1896, and 
promoted to chemist in 1898. He was made director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experi- 
mental Station in 1899 and served in that capacity until 1906. He also served as an asso- 
ciate professor of chemistry in the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College from 
1888 to 1889, and from 1900 to 1906 was the business agent of the college. He was editor 
and publisher of the Oklahoma Farmer from 1902 to 1924. He has been a director and vice- 
president of the Farmers’ National Bank of Oklahoma City and, in 1926, he was made vice- 
president and director of the Federal Land Bank and the Federal Intermediate Credit 
Bank, both at Wichita, Kansas. For twenty years he was active in Oklahoma Republican 
politics and was the party nominee for Governor in 1914 and 1922. During the World War 
he served as an assistant to the National Food Control Administration, in charge of pub- 
licity and superintendence of grain production. He is the author of numerous bulletins 
on agricultural chemistry and allied subjects, published by the Oklahoma Agricultural 
Experiment Station; also of the volume entitled “Sure Food Crops,’ and is an experi- 
enced, well-known lecturer on agricultural topics before farmers’ and bankers’ conventions. 


654 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


to the rank and file of the party for confirmation and endorsement at the 
regular primary election. The Democratic primary campaign was very hotly 
contested by the rival aspirants for various State offices. The Progressive 
party held a convention and nominated a ticket, despite the fact that many 
Progressives had openly “returned to the Republican fold.” The Socialists 
also nominated a ticket in advance of the primary. The primary election was 
held on Tuesday, August 4th. The result in the case of some offices was 
doubtful for several days. Judge Robert L. Williams received 35,480 votes 
out of 122,258, having a plurality of 2,143 votes over his nearest competitor, 
Judge James B. A. Robertson, with five other candidates trailing behind. 
John P. Hickam, the Progressive nominee for governor received less than 
2,500 votes and Fred Holt, the Socialist, received about 20,000. 

Immediately following the primary election for the nomination of party 
candidates for State offices, there was much criticism and complaint concern- 
ing the operations of the primary election law. Not only did the successful 
candidate of the dominant party win the nomination for the gubernatorial 
office, with the support of less than twenty-nine per cent of the votes cast, but 
two of the six contending aspirants openly charged that there had been mani- 
pulation of the results. Particular objection was raised against central con- 
trol df election machinery. Contests were threatened and demands from the 
press of the Democratic party for a thorough revision of the primary election 
law were numerous, some of these even voicing a seeming trend in favor of 
the abandonment of the primary system of nominations altogether.1% 

The state political campaign of 1914 was much more spirited than any 
preceding political contest since statehood. The Republicans entered into 
it with much enthusiasm despite the fact that several of that party’s rec- 
ognized leaders were known to be decidedly lukewarm. The Socialist party 
also made a very active and aggressive canvass of the State. The latter had 
a very complete organization, state, county and precinct, which enabled it 
to accurately check the results of the ensuing election, which was held on 
the 3d of November. The Progressive party also made a campaign. The 
result of the election for Governor, as returned by the Election Board, was as 
follows: Williams, 100,597; Fields, 95,904; Holt (Socialist), 52,703; Hickam 
(Progressive), 4,189. The Progressive party had dropped to a merely nominal 
strength. The Democratic nominees for the other State offices were elected 
by substantial pluralities. The Legislature was also strongly Democratic. 


Capitol Construction Begun—The bill making provision for the erection 
of the State Capitol, which was passed by the Fourth Legislature,!* created 
a capitol commission, consisting of three persons, namely, William B. 
Anthony, of Marlow; Patrick J. Goulding, of Enid; and Stephen A. Douglas, 
of Ardmore. This law had been tested out in the courts, and the Supreme 
Court having announced its decision, the commission met and organized on 
January 13, 1914, and immediately went into session. 

13. The Daily Oklahoman of August 6, 1914, contained interviews and statements from 


six citizens of Oklahoma City, all of whom had been prominently in the public life of the 
State, who expressed disappointment with the primary election law and favored its repeal. 


14. Session Laws of 1913, pp. 584-97. 


ee pa tiBRARY. 
ONS ee 
"UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


GOVERNOR ROBERT L. WILLIAMS 


The War Governor of Oklahoma 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 655 


Ground was broken for the beginning of the excavation for the erection 
of the Capitol, on Monday, July 20, 1914. Appropriate ceremonies marked 
the occasion, Governor Cruce and other State officials participating in the 
presence of a large assemblage of people. 

The firm of Layton & Smith was selected as the architects to draft the 
plans for the building. The Capitol Commission also secured Mr. Edward 
P. Boyd, of the staff of supervising architect of the United States Treasury, 
who had superintended the construction of the Federal buildings at Oklahoma 
City and Muskogee, as superintendent of construction. Upon the request of 
the State Capitol Commission of Oklahoma, President Woodrow Wilson 
directed that Mr. Boyd be granted a furlough for the purpose of enabling him 
to take up the work of personally supervising the construction of the Okla- 
homa capitol. 


Governor Williams’ Administration—The inauguration of Judge Robert L. 
Williams as governor of Oklahoma, on Monday, January 11, 1915, marked 
a decided change in the affairs of the State. The new chief executive was 
already known as a forceful personality, endowed with a positive determina- 
tion and great physical and mental energy, and a well developed executive 
ability. His inaugural address was a clearcut and unequivocal outline of the 
policies of his administration. He immediately devoted his entire attention to 
the work of his new position, making the necessary appointments, submitting 
his message to the Fifth Legislature and then closely watching its workings. 
As a whole, his relations with the legislative branch of the State government 
were harmonious and reciprocal and, therefore, quite in contrast with the con- 
dition existing during the preceding administration. 

The session of the Fifth Legislature lasted seventy-eight days and, while 
seemingly uneventful as compared with some of the preceding sessions, was 
distinguished for its attention to business. Not a single bill received an 
executive veto during the session, though several were disapproved after its 
adjournment. Indeed, it was generally understood that Governor Williams 
had a large part in the actual preparation of the legislation of the session, 
possibly as much as that of any member of either house. Moreover, the 
Legislature restored to the executive practically all of the power which had 
been taken away from his predecessor and even increased it somewhat. The 
Capitol Commission law was so amended as to make the Governor not only 
a member of the commission but also its ex-officio chairman. Impeachment 
charges were voted against two State officials and the State Senate went into 
session as an impeachment court immediately after the adjournment of the 
legislative session. One of the accused officials was convicted and the other 
acquitted. 

The “grandfather clause” of the State Constitution, under the operation 
of which it had been aimed to eliminate negro suffrage in elections, was the 
subject of an adverse decision by the United States Supreme Court. In this 
decision, handed down on June I, 1915, it was held to be in conflict with the 
United States Constitution. Thus ended the first effort to accomplish by 
subterfuge that which could only be achieved by the exercise of constructive 


656 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


statesmanship of the highest order. That a condition which would have 
abundantly justified a courageous appeal for the rectification of the most 
monumental blunder of the Reconstruction Period could not justify a meas- 
ure which was open to the charge of mere partizan expediency, was not sur- 
prising. The question as to the possibility of the permanent endurance of a 
democracy, or representative republic, the constituent citizenship of which 
is not of a homogeneous character, is one of grave doubt. In any attempt 
to find its solution, due regard must be paid to underlying principles; racial 
integrity is the greatest issue involved and this, with the adaptability or lack 
of the same on the part of a questionable element, must eventually outweigh 
prejudice, sentimentalism and even artificially created rights. 


An Extraordinary Legislative Session—The undoing of the “grandfather 
clause” by the United States Supreme Court was the occasion of consider- 
able political uneasiness. While the size of the negro vote in Oklahoma even 
if it were all cast and counted, was not sufficient to have balanced the Repub- 
lican strength against that of the Democratic party, it was the subject of 
much counselling among the members of the last mentioned party. As the 
year I915 was drawing to a close, there was much discussion of the expedi- 
ency of having the Legislature convened in a special session for the purpose 
dealing with what was regarded as “a chaotic condition.” There were editorial 
expressions in the press and personal statements from some of the political 
leaders, but no official announcements.15 Finally, on January 6, 1916, Gover- 
nor Williams issued a call for the Legislature to meet in extraordinary ses- 
sion on January 17, following. In due time, the members assembled and went 
into session. The Governor’s message, which reviewed state affairs since 
the adjournment of the regular session, made recommendations concerning 
details of institutional business procedure, taxation and usury, but made no 
mention of the discredited “grandfather clause” or of any emergency existing 
by reason of the Supreme Court ruling thereon. However, in another mes- 
sage, nearly three weeks later, in a brief, two-line mention, there was sub- 
mitted for consideration “the question of amending the Constitution as to 
qualification of male electors.” Such a measure was framed and submitted to 
a vote of the people at an election to be held on the first Tuesday in August, 
1916. Although this measure was manifestly planned to accomplish the same 
result as that at which the “grandfather clause” had aimed, it was so skilfully 
worded as not to come into conflct with the United States Constitution.1¢ 


15. Harlow’s Weekly, December 25, 1915, p. 462. 

16. “Section 3-A. No property qualifications shall ever be imposed as a requisite for 
registration or voting in this State, and any other qualification for registration or voting 
which may hereafter be prescribed by the Legislature or the people of this State shall 
conform to the Constitution of the United States, and the amendments thereto, and the 
right of no citizen of this State to vote shall ever be denied or abridged on account of race, 
color or previous condition of servitude. 

_ .“““No person shall be registered as an elector of this State, or be allowed to vote, or be 
eligible to hold office under the Constitution and laws of this State unless he be able to 
read and write any section of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma, but no person 
who, prior to the adoption of this provision, served in the land or naval forces of the 
United States, or in the War with Mexico or on either side in any war with Mexico or on 
either side in any war with the Indian tribes located within the United States, or on either 
side in the Civil War, or in the National Guard or Militia of any State or territory of the 
United States, or in the land or naval force of any foreign nation, and all lawful descend- 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 657 


This referendum measure, which was known as the “Literacy Test,” met with 
an ignominious defeat at the hands of the voters at the primary election. 
It received but 92,000 affirmative votes, while the negative vote was upward 
of 132,000. The Socialists were credited with having furnished the majority 
for the defeat of the measure. Yet, there is no reason to believe that a 
majority of the intelligent voters of Oklahoma were not opposed to an honest 
literacy test, as a requisite to the right of the elective franchise. Rather, the 
vote might have been taken as a rebuke to this second effort to accomplish 
by subterfuge that which could not be achieved in consonance with the pro- 
visions of the Federal Constitution. However unwise these last mentioned 
provisions may have been and still are, there was and is but one means to 
bring about the abrogation of the same, and that would be through the med- 
ium of a plea to the enlightened judgment of the American people for a 
remedial amendment to the Federal Constitution—in other words, a frank 
and courageous demand for the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment to the 
Federal Constitution. 


The Election Laws—Although the election laws of the state, adopted by 
the First Legislature, had been revised by each succeeding regular biennial 
session except the Fifth, there was much outspoken dissatisfaction with it 
among many Democrats as well as by members of the other political parties. 
Indeed, most of the open and caustic criticism of the election laws had come 
from Democratic sources.17 Republican leaders, while doubtless holding well 
defined opinions as to the fairness of the law, its intentions and its administra- 
tion, said little and, apparently, assumed an attitude of patient endurance, 
presumably in the belief that, for the time being, at least, “might made right.” 
With the development of the Socialist party, however, there came an open 
and positive protest, which took the form of an initiated bill for the enact- 
ment of a “fair election law” by direct vote of the citizens of the State. In the 
initiation and petitioning of this measure, it was understood that the Social- 
ists had the moral support if not active codperation of the Republican leaders. 

This “fair election law” was presented in the form of a proposed amend- 
ment to the State Constitution. Initiated Petition, No. 51, containing the 
signatures of 64,037 petitioners, was filed by Patrick Nagle, on September 11, 
1915, and was designated as State Question No. 78. An executive proclama- 
tion, dated August 8, 1916, directed that the bill should be submitted to a 
vote of the people of the state in the election to be held on Tuesday, Novem- 
ber 7, following. This proposition to amend the Constitution by adding 


ants of any such person, and of those that served on the side of the Colonies in the 
American Revolution, and in the land or naval forces of the United States in the War of 
1812, or any person prevented by physical disability from complying with such test, shall 
be denied the right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and write any 
section of such Constitution. Precinct election inspectors or other officers having in charge 
the registration of electors shall enforce the provisions of this section at the time of reg- 
istration, provided registration be required. Should registration be dispensed with, the 
provisions of this section shall be enforced by the precinct election officers when electors 
apply for ballots to vote; provided, that it is intended that no part of this provision or 
section shall conflict with the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and shall 
accordingly be adopted and become effective.’ ’’—Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1916, pp. 144-45. 


17. Harlow’s Weekly, Vol. X, No. 15, pp. 8-22. 
Okla—42 


658 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


to Article III, thereof, Sections 8 to 23, inclusive, relating to elections and 
creating a non-partizan state election board, was accordingly placed on the 
official ballot as directed.18 The result of the election on this measure, as 
returned by the State Election Board, was 147,067 votes for the amendment 
and 157,039 votes against the amendment. Yet, three weeks after the election, 
Patrick Nagle, who had filed the initiated measure in question, used four 
pages of paid advertising space in a weekly magazine, published in Oklahoma 
City, in which he openly charged that there had been an intentional shortage 
of ballots on initiated questions in over I00 precincts, stating in detail the 
names, numbers and geographic locations of such precincts, the amount of the 
ballot shortage in each instance and the name of the committeeman furnish- 
ing the information, together with statements as to other irregularities which, 
if proven, were sufficient to have invalidated such an election.19 

No official cognizance was ever accorded the challenge thus offered, neither 
did anyone in authority ever venture to dispute the authenticity of its detailed 
statements. On the contrary, one state senator publicly announced his inten- 
tion of fathering a movement for the repeal of the initiative and referendum 
sections of the State Constitution.?° 


The National Election—In the general election, held on November 7, 1916, 
Woodrow Wilson carried Oklahoma by a plurality of 40,000 votes indicating a 
strength much in excess of the straight party vote and representing the support 
of independents and other voters who had endorsed his pre-war policy. 

Through more than two years, the people of Oklahoma had watched the 
progress of the World War very intently. Mindful of the admonitions of 
National and State officials, most of them tried to maintain a neutral attitude 
at first. Gradually, however, popular sympathy with the Allied Nations 
became not only stronger but more outspoken and many expressed the belief 
that the United States would ultimately be drawn into the struggle. The 
policy of President Wilson’s administration, in seeking to avoid entanglement, 
if possible, was generally approved but, by the close of 1916, it was becom- 
ing apparent that the only peace with a neutral people which the Central 
Powers would recognize was that of abject subserviency ; hence, many 
believed that America was being forced to the point where she would have 
to cast her sword into the balance on the side of the Allies. 


18. “There is a very clear and comprehensive reason for this prospective adoption of the 
socialist measure. It lies in the reputation that has been given Democratic election 
methods and machinery by Democrats ever since statehood. This reputation is for devious 
methods and crooked counts. Democratic candidates for nomination have been on hand 
every primary election since statehood crying fraud and demanding recounts with the alle- 
gation that they had been robbed by the election machinery of their party opponents for 
the office. This accusation by Democrats that elections were being stolen by the Demo- 
crats under the Democratic election laws has been made so often and so vehemently that 
the general run of citizens have come to believe there is frequent fraud and manipulation 
under the present elective System and machinery. Republicans and socialists may be 
expected to look with suspicion upon election laws that have been devised by a two-thirds 
majority party, especially when, as in the case of the recent registration law, the caucus 
sessions were held day after day behind closed doors in both Houses of the Legislature.’— 
George McQuaid, in Dallas News, December, 1916. 


19° Ibid, Vol. <h.Nos 2s (November, 1916), pp. 12-15. A biographical sketch of the life 
of Patrick Nagle will be found in Appendix XLVIII- 2. 


20. (Citation). 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 659 


Capitol Construction—Work on the erection of the Capitol was pushed 
during the first half of Governor Williams’ administration. The Governor 
gave the matter his close personal attention and was in constant touch with 
the superintendent of construction, Mr. Boyd. No details were overlooked 
or slighted. It was not only well built but it was built at a very reasonable 
cost, the State receiving full value for every dollar expended. As the end of 
the second year of the construction of the Capitol (1916) drew near, it found 
the edifice so near to completion that, by the installation of a temporary heat- 
ing plant, it was possible to hold the sessions of the Sixth Legislature in the 
pagers and also to move the executive offices to the permanent quarters 
therein. 

The operations incident to the finishing of the interior of the building 
were continued with such energy that the offices of the various departments 
of the State government were enabled to begin moving into their new quar- 
ters in the latter part of June and nearly all of them were duly installed 
within a month. Of course, much remained to be done in the way of com- 
pleting the approaches, entrances, etc., but, for immediate purposes, from the 
pouring of the first concrete to the point where it was ready for occupancy, 
it had been built in record-breaking time, with no hint of corruption or job- 
bery and no variation from the plans or specifications except with the best 
of reasons and the fullest measure of understanding and satisfaction and the 
safeguarding of every interest of the State and its people. In the original 
plans for the building, the erection of a dome had been contemplated and foot- 
ings for its support were included in the construction of the foundations. 
However, with the advancing cost of structural steel incident to the effect of 
the war, it was decided to finish the building without such a surmounting 
superfluity and leave the same to be added at some future time if the people 
of the State so desired. 


The Sixth Legislature—The Sixth Legislature convened in the new Cap- 
itol, January 2, 1917. It was distinguished as one of the most hardworking 
assemblies in the legislative history of Oklahoma. Possibly the most notable 
action taken was the submission of an amendment to the State Constitution, 
proposing the extension of the elective franchise to women, to a vote at the 
next ensuing general election.21_ The militia law of the State was also revised, 
doubtless as the result of the mobilization of the Oklahoma National Guard 
and its induction into the Federal military service for duty on the Mexican 
border, with possibly the pervasive influence of the European War and the 
growing belief that the United States might be drawn into it. 

Considerable additional highway legislation was enacted but not in codi- 
fied form. Popular interest in modern highway development was increasing 
to the point where it was ready to support progressive action at the hands 
of the Legislature. The Highway Department had developed into a rather 
extensive office force, with a commissioner at the head of it, with a staff con- 
sisting of a chief engineer, an assistant engineer and a consulting engineer 


21. Harlow’s Weekly, Vol. II, No. 23, pp. 12-15. 


660 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


and a secretary. The organization of the force was still in its formative 
period, however. 


The Political Campaign of 1918—When the time drew near for the begin- 
ning of another pre-primary campaign for the nominations for party candi- 
dates for various state offices, Oklahoma, in common with the rest of the 
United States, was so deeply engaged in activities incident to the prosecution 
of the great World War that there was a marked lack of popular interest 
in political affairs. However, there was no dearth of aspirants for such forms 
of public service, neither were these backward nor tardy in making their 
ambitions known. Indeed, the first advertised announcements began to appear 
nearly six months before the date upon which the primary elections were to 
be held. 

There were seven aspirants for the Democratic nomination for governor 
and three contenders for the Republican nomination for the same office. The 
pre-primary campaign was a spirited one. One of the candidates for the 
gubernatorial nomination stated that it would be his last chance to “have 
a ‘look-in,’ politically, as the World War veterans will grab all of the offices 
at all future elections!” The primary election resulted in the nomination of 
James B. A. Robertson for governor by the Democratic party, while his 
Republican opponent was Horace G. McKeever, of Enid. In the November 
election, Judge Robertson was chosen by an increased Democratic majority. 


A Decade of Drouth—During the growing seasons of 1917 and 1918, with 
their country at war, the farmers of Oklahoma strove to produce record crops 
as never before. Yet, they saw the drouths and hot winds harvest the crops 
both years. Even such drouth resisting crops as cotton and Kaffir corn were 
blasted by the hot, dry winds which blew over them day after day, and week 
after week, sucking every bit of moisture from the soil. However, these two 
drouth seasons and consequent crop failures were by no means unprecedented. 
Indeed, during the decade including the years 1909 to 1918 inclusive, there 
was but one all round good crop season—the year 1915. There were also 
fair crops in 1912, but the growing seasons of the years 1909, IQIO, I9II, 1913, 
1914, 1916, 1917, and 1918 saw great shortages throughout the State, which 
amounted almost, if not quite, to a total failure throughout its western half.22 


22. A statement concerning the cost of drouth in Oklahoma throughout a period of 
ten years, will be found in Appendix XLVIII-3. 


oof — set) Zeer — at) +4 


CHAPTER XLIX 


OKLAHOMA IN THE WORLD WAR 


a 
i fen 
i 


oat 


aur 


" 


his 


oy 


CHAPTER XLIX. 
OKLAHOMA IN THE WORLD WAR. 


When the great war broke out in Europe in 1914, the people of Oklahoma 
immediately became interested. Cautioned to maintain a neutral attitude by 
national leaders, but few would express opinions. However, excepting only 
those who were of German birth or parentage and who, for sentimental rea- 
sons, sympathized with the Central Powers, the people of Oklahoma were 
almost unanimous in their sympathy with the Allies—probably because of the 
line of cleavage between Prussian absolutism and the more democratic govern- 
ments of Great Britain and France. Meanwhile the successive revolutions and 
counter-revolutions in Mexico had continued. Finally, in June, 1916, condi- 
tions on the Mexican border became so tense, that a punitive expedition was 
organized and the National Guard of Oklahoma and other states was ordered 
out for induction into the Federal service. The Oklahoma units were ordered 
out on June 19, being rendezvoused at Fort Sill, where they were inducted into 
the Federal service on July 4. From thence they were sent by rail to the Mex- 
ican border, where they saw active patrol service until returned to Fort Sill 
eight months later. They were discharged from the Federal service March 2, 
IQI7. 

Meanwhile the war cloud had been growing darker in Europe and, by the 
time the Oklahoma Guardsmen returned to their homes, it was apparent that 
the Government and people of the United States would be drawn into the 
conflict. Oklahoma’s one infantry regiment was ordered back to Fort Sill 
for re-induction into the Federal Service, March 31, 1917—less than a month 
after leaving that post and a full week before war was declared by Congress. 
The Engineer organization was increased from one company to a three-com- 
pany battalion. An ambulance company was organized at Tulsa but did not 
go into training with the rest of the Oklahoma National Guard, being sent to 
join the 42d (Rainbow) Division for early transportation over seas to France. 
The Signal Company was likewise sent to join the 42d Division. Both of 
these units bore an honorable part in the history of that splendid organiza- 
tion. 

Immediately upon the declaration of war, the people of Oklahoma and 
their State government began to organize for service, for all realized that 
there was a great task to be performed and one which would call for the 
organization of every resource and industry, civil as well as military, of the 
whole American people. These included the organization of county and local 
registration boards, the Red Cross, the state and county councils of defense, 
the state food control organization. Officers’ training camps were established 
first, while the erection of barracks for the great training camps for men of 
the enlisted grades were being constructed. The selection of candidates for 
commissions to be sent to the training camps was necessarily done hastily 
and in a somewhat arbitrary manner, though the rigorous training camp tests 


664 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


had the effect of eliminating mistakes made in such selections. In all of this 
preliminary work the provisions of the selective draft sections of the National 
Defense Act followed as closely as possible. The site of one of these great 
military training camps, to be known as Camp Doniphan, was selected on the 
Fort Sill military reservation. The railroads and express companies of the 
country were consolidated under Government administration and control. 
The farmers were organized for maximum crop and meat production and the 
people were advised that they would be put on limited rations of wheat pro- 
ducts, meat, sugar and certain other commodities, as it was known that 
America would not only to have to feed its own fighting men, but also those 
of its Allies, and a large part of their civilian inhabitants as well. 

There were sporadic instances of draft resistance in a few counties in 
Oklahoma, due mostly to the active propaganda of agitators from other states. 
However, all these were handled by the local civil authorities, without having 
to call in any outside help, either civil or military. Shortly after America 
entered the war, there was an epidemic of matrimony on the part of certain 
young men who hoped thus to escape being drafted for military service, thus 
arousing feelings of both amusement and contempt in the popular mind. 
Comparatively few men of military age tried to evade registration and not 
many of these succeeded in the effort. In some instances, boys who were 
under age enlisted for service as volunteers, even before the draft went into 
operation. 

The Governor appointed the county draft boards and the latter then selected 
and appointed the local boards. Copies of all records thus gathered were sent 
to Washington. When a given number of men were needed from Oklahoma, 
they were drawn by lot, each man having a number. In most instances, the 
members of the county registration boards served also as members of the 
county exemption boards. Most of these men donated their services on both 
boards, with the result that the operation of the selective draft cost less in 
Oklahoma, proportionately, than in any other state. The cost per man, at 
the time of induction into the service, did not average three dollars, whereas, 
in some states, the cost was as high as thirty dollars per man. 

When it came to raising money for the Red Cross, selling Liberty bonds, 
enforcing food control regulations and otherwise codperating for the success 
of the Allied Nations in the Great War, the public speakers—or some of them 
—were organized, so that the people might be reached and inspired and 
enthused and codrdinated in the one great undertaking. The Red Cross 
was not only well organized but also well supported and its members were 
intensely active, sewing, knitting, making bandages, first-aid packages, com- 
fort kits, etc. All the people were asked to economize, to save, to subscribe 
and to send as much as possible for the winning of the war. To be sure, 
there were some selfish souls who, because they had money, thought they 
need not deny themselves for the sake of the cause but county councils of 
defense gave close attention to “food hoarders.” 

There were well-to-do people who doubted whether they had to contri- 
bute to war funds or subscribe for bonds, but all such usually found it expe- 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 665 


dient to fall in line. Prices climbed to very high levels in most lines; while 
the farmers were limited to two dollars per bushel on wheat, flour and other 
wheat products and bread was always sold at a profit. Indeed, there was 
much “profiteering” in many lines of business. Wages for labor went very 
high and many women and girls worked in lines that had previously been 
limited to men. But there was not a corresponding rise in some of the salaried 
lines of employment. 

Most of the people of Oklahoma were possessed of the quiet, undemon- 
strative type of patriotism, who were content to do their part to help win 
the war without continually trying to advertise the fact. On the other hand, 
there was a comparatively small class whose noisy and ostentatious demon- 
strations of patriotic fervor was surprising, since they had never been 
suspected of being patriotic before; all such were classed as “patrioteers” 
and it is worthy of remark that none of them have been accused of being 
patriotic since the war closed. Likewise, in a few instances, there were Red 
Cross workers who seemed much more greatly concerned as to how much 
personal credit was to accrue to them and how much and how often their 
services were recognized by the press than they were in trying to alleviate 
the sufferings of a war-weary world. 

The First Oklahoma Infantry was ordered to Fort Worth, in August, 
where with the regiments of Texas, it was used in the organization of the 
36th Division. The Oklahoma Regiment, never having been recruited 
to war strength, was consolidated with the 7th Texas Regiment and, thence- 
forth, was designated as the 142d United States Infantry. At the same time, 
Colonel Roy Hoffman, who had been in command of the Oklahoma regiment 
since 1900, was promoted to the grade of brigadier-general in the National 
Army, while Colonel Alfred W. Bloor, of the 7th Texas, became colonel in 
command of the 142d Infantry. The other Oklahoma units were inducted 
into the Federal service about the same time that the Infantry regiment left 
Fort Sill. 

After the training camps had been organized to their maximum efficiency, 
there was an almost constant movement of Oklahoma recruits to some one 
or another of these great camps of instructions. While Oklahoma men were 
trained in nearly if not all of the big training camps of the country, more of 
them were trained at Camps Bowie (Fort Worth) and Travis (Fort Sam 
Houston, San Antonio), than at any other camps. The 36th Division was 
trained at Camp Bowie. It contained a large number of Oklahoma men, as did 
the goth Division, which was trained at Camp Travis. The rest of the Okla- 
homa men who entered the service of the army were scattered among a num- 
ber of training camps and assigned to service with even a larger number of 
divisons. There were Oklahoma men in the Navy and in the Marine Corps, 
also, but the number thus enlisted or assigned was small in comparison with 
that of those who entered the Army. 

There were Oklahoma men in the first contingent of the United States 
Army that crossed the Atlantic, with General Pershing. The latter, when 
ranking only as a captain, had seen service in Oklahoma, as a member of the 
staff of Major-General Samuel S. Sumner, while the latter was in command 


666 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


of a division with headquarters at Oklahoma City, in 1903-04. General Persh- 
ing’s first chief of staff, when he went to France, was General James G. Har- 
bord, who, as a lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, had been stationed at Fort 
Reno, in the early ’gos. 


The First Division—When the United States declared war against Ger- 
many, April 6, 1917, no forces had as yet been organized to be sent over-seas. 
A few weeks later, a French mission, headed by Marshal Joffre of the French 
Army, arrived in America. This mission urged that a military force be sent 
to France without delay. It was not expected that America would throw 
much of a force into the contending allied armies until its officers and men 
could go through intensive courses of field and combat training. Rather, what 
was most desired was the appearance of officers and men in the uniform of 
the American Army where the troops of the allied forces could see them and 
thus have a spiritual, if not a physical, reinforcement to sustain them during 
the intervening months of struggle. Accordingly, General Pershing selected 
a force which was to be known as the Ist Expeditionary Division, with 
headquarters in New York City, from which troops were to be sent over- 
seas as soon as practicable. This division was composed as follows: 


Ist Infantry Brigade: 16th Infantry; 18th Infantry; 2d Machine Gun Battalion. 

2d Infantry Brigade: 26th Infantry; 28th Infantry; 3d Machine Gun Battalion. 

Ist Artillery Brigade: 5th Field Artillery (155-mm. howitzer) ; 6th Field Artillery (75mm. 
guns) ; 7th Field Artillery (75-mm. guns) ; Ist Trench Mortar Battery. 

Ist Regiment of Engineers. 

Ist Machine Gun Battalion. 

2d Field Signal Battalion. 

Trains: Headquarters Trains, First Division; 1st Company Military Police, 2d Company 
Military Police; 1st Ammunition Train; 1st Mobile Ordnance Repair Shop; 1st Supply Train; 
Ist Engineer Train; 1st Sanitary Train; 2d, 3d, 12th and 13th Ambulance Companies; 2d, 3d, 
12th and 13th Field Hospitals. 

Permanently attached units: Machine Shop Truck Units Nos. 2 and 301; Mobile Surgical 
Unit No. 2; Sales Commissary Unit No. 309; Bakery Unit No. 314; Clothing and Bath Unit 
No. 319; Pack Train No. Io. 


The troops composing this first contingent had been stationed in the 
Southwest, the 16th Infantry at Fort Bliss, Texas, the 18th Infantry at 
Douglas, Arizona; the 26th Infantry from San Benito, Texas; the 28th from 
Fort Ringgold, Texas; Field Hospital No. 13 and Ambulance Company No. 
13, from Fort Sam Houston, Texas; and Company C, 2d Field Signal Bat- 
talion from Brownsville, Texas. All of these organizations had seen more or 
less field service during the Mexican Border disturbances, and each was in 
a highly trained state of efficiency. They were all filled to war strength by 
recruits who had voluntarily enlisted immediately after the outbreak of the 
war. All of these recruits were from the Southwest, and most of them were 
from Texas and Oklahoma, as many of the seasoned veterans of these regi- 
ments were also. While these men were volunteers they had all enlisted for 
service in regiments of the old Regular Army. 

On the 3d of June, the journey to Hoboken, the port of embarkation, was 
begun. Every effort was made to keep the movement secret, but the people 
along the way guessed the destination of the troops and cheered them as their 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 667 


trains passed through. The men were in a high state of enthusiasm and 
were proud of the distinction which had come to their regiments in being 
thus selected for the first to go over-seas, because of such recognition of their 
efficiency. The morale of these organizations was as near perfect as such 
a thing could have been. Mest of the troops embarked on the transports on 
the night of June 9, but it was not until June 14 that anchors were raised 
and the ships steamed for the open sea amid the cheers of the men on board. 

The fleet of transports was organized into three groups with a convoy, 
consisting of a cruiser and four destroyers, assigned to each group. As 
this was the first experiment of sending troops overseas from the United 
States, through submarine infested seas, there was much anxiety at home, 
as well as on shipboard. The voyage was made without incident, however, 
and no sign of submarines was seen. The landing was made at St. Nazaire. 
Company K, of the 28th Infantry, had the distinction of being the first United 
States troops to set foot on French soil, on June 6, 1917. Thus, by the close 
of June—less than two months after the visit of the French Mission which 
came to urge haste in the sending of the first troops, four American regi- 
ments with a number of special troops had already landed, the vanguard of 
the host of more than two million which was to follow. The welcome 
extended to this first overseas expedition by the people of France was one 
which touched every American heart. Immediately the men were put to 
training; they were given experience in marching with full packs upon their 
backs, a physical exercise to recondition them after their long confinement 
on ship-board. Neatness of dress and soldierly deportment was emphasized, 
as the American soldiers were to be largely judged by those who were first 
to arrive. Naturally, Paris was very anxious to see the American soldiers. 
Accordingly, the 2d Battalion of the 16th Infantry was selected to represent 
the American Army in a parade in Paris on the 4th of July.? 

The next day this same battalion entrained for the Gondrecourt Area, to 
begin the apprenticeship in the art of defeating the enemy by the latest and 
most approved methods. Within the next few days it was rejoined by the 
other forces of the division. Meantime the other units of the division were 
being sent overseas. The 5th Field Artillery left El Paso, Texas, July 23 
and arrived at Hoboken four days later. The 6th Field Artillery left Douglas, 
Arizona, June 23 and embarked at Hoboken five days later. The 7th Field 
Artillery left Fort Sam Houston, Texas, July 27 and embarked at Hoboken 


1. “In this battalion Paris was to see the first evidence of America’s determination to 
return with interest the friendship and support that France had given to the American 
colonies in their hour of need when they fought for their liberty. Along the historic 
Champs Elysées the battalion marched calmly and proudly, being conscious of its serious 
mission, and receiving a continuous ovation from the wildly enthusiastic crowds that lined 
the famous boulevard. All Paris exulted as it gazed on these first splendid offerings of 
American manhood to the sacrifice of a war that had brought so much suffering to France. 
Alas, many of them were destined to sleep in the land that they redeemed by their blood. 
Marshall Joffre, the idol of France’s heroic armies, stood beside the President of the 
Republic and reviewed the battalion. In this virile manhood from the young nation across 
the seas the French people visualized a new inspiration, a new hope, and a new determina- 
tion to win. The march ended at Lafayette’s tomb. Here young and vital America, with 
General Pershing as her voice, gathered around the shrine of America’s beloved friend, 
saluted the spirit of Lafayette and reported for duty in those thrilling words: ‘Lafayette, 
we are here.’ ’’—“‘History of the First Division During the World War.” p. 8 


668 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


July 28. The various units of special troops embarked at Hoboken during 
the last days of July and during the month of August. 

As already stated, the units of this division having been long stationed 
in the active service in the Southwest, contained more men from Texas and 
Oklahoma than from other states. The division was truly representative of 
the whole American Union, however, as its personnel contained men from 
each of the forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, Porto 
Rico, the Philippine Islands, Panama Canal Zone, and Guam. 

The men found conditions far from being favorable, but nothing seemed 
to dampen their ardor. They went through their training period with the 
aid of experienced officers and non-commissioned officers from such famous 
French regiments as the Alpine Chasseurs and the Foreign Legion, with a 
few specialists from the British Army instructors to coach them in the most 
recent developments in the art of war. The use of trench weapons, grenades, 
the excavation of trenches, dug-out refugees, etc., the wearing of gas masks, 
bayonet training and the art of bayonet fighting, these and scores of other 
forms of fighting technique were gleaned from these experienced and enthu- 
Siastic instructors. 

The Sommerviller Sector, on the Lorraine front, was selected as the place 
where the Americans were to be introduced to the German methods of war- 
fare. It was located between Lunéville and Nancy, described as an attrac- 
tive country along the the Rhine-Marne Canal. It had always been regarded 
as the probable site of a great struggle between the armies of France and 
Germany. The heaviest campaigns were fought farther west, however, and 
though there had been some heavy fighting in that vicinity during the first 
two years of the war, it had been comparatively quiet during the two years 
preceding the arrival of the first American troops. Four battalions, one from 
each of the four regiments were sent into the trenches on the night of October 
21. There, the officers and men first came under fire in comradeship with 
those of the 18th French Division, which was holding the sector and which 
was charged with the instruction of the newly arrived American units. The 
Americans were so posted as to aid in case of an attack, but care was taken 
that the experienced veterans of the French Division should bear the brunt 
in case of a hostile attack. The highest American command was present 
in the sector, as were regimental, brigade, and divisional commanders, who 
were afforded every opportunity to visit their troops. 

At 6:05 A. M., October 23, the first shot from an American-manned gun 
was fired by Battery C, 6th Field Artillery. The first known casualties were 
suffered the same day and were treated in Field Hospital No. 13. On October 
25, the first American officer was wounded; on the 27th, the 18th Infantry 
captured the first prisoner taken by American troops. On the night of Novem- 
ber 2, the 2d battalions of each of the four infantry regiments relieved the Ist 
battalions. 

The first trench raid by the enemy occurred early the following morn- 
ing. A box-barrage enclosed a platoon of the 16th Infantry, which rendered 
it impossible for it to withdraw or receive reinforcements. As a result of this 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 669 


raid, a sergeant and ten men were carried away as prisoners, some of them 
being wounded, while the corporal and two privates lay dead in the muddy 
bottom of the trench. The bodies of these men were carried to the rear and 
sent, on the following day, to the ruined town of Bathelémont where, with 
military honors from the armies of both France and America, they were 
buried. French infantrymen, French artillerymen and Americans were formed 
in a square facing the graves, while the French general in command spoke 
a brief but eloquent eulogy. He said: 


The death of this humble corporal and these privates appeals to us with unwonted grandeur. 
We will, therefore, ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left to us forever. We 
will inscribe on their tombs, “Here lie the first soldiers of the United States to fall on the fields 
of France for justice and liberty.” The passerby will stop and uncover his head. The travelers 
of France, of the Allied countries, of America, and the men of heart, who will come to visit our 
battlefields of Lorraine, will go out of their way to come here to bring to these graves the trib- 
ute of their respect and gratitude. Corporal Gresham, Private Enright and Private Hay, in the 
name of France, I thank you. God receive your souls. 


The division remained on the front in the Sommerviller Sector until 
November 20, when it was relieved. The total casualties suffered while in 
that sector were: killed or died of wounds, 36 men; wounded, one officer 
and thirty-five men; prisoners, eleven men; total one officer and eighty- 
two men. 

Major-General William L. Sibert, who was commanding the Ist Division 
of the American Expeditionary Forces, issued a congratulatory order when 
the division was relieved and returned to the training area where, for the 
first time, all of its units were brought together as a fully organized division. 
This was continued for a number of weeks. This second training period 
ended on January 5th, and the division was announced ready to take its place 
as a combat unit and able to stand alcne. Orders were received for the 
division to proceed to the Ansauville Sector, north of Toul, and relieve the 
Ist Moroccan Division. 

When General Pershing first went to Europe and studied the situation, 
he arrived at two conclusions, namely, (a), that trench warfare would have 
to end before victory could be achieved and, (b), that the vital part of the 
enemy’s front from an American objective lay toward Metz. This meant 
that an advance in such a direction would ultimately involve the reduction 
of the St. Mihiel Salient. It would lead to the fall of the great fortress of 
Metz and the enemy’s communication westward through Sedan, upon which 
the enemy had to depend for the movement of troops, supplies, and muni- 
tions. Furthermore, it would deprive the enemy of the iron mines at Briey, 
on which dependence had to be placed for the continuance of the munition 
industries. It was with this plan in view that the American lines of com- 
munication were selected and the location of the Gondrecourt Training Area 
was selected. It was but logical that the 1st American Division should 
have begun its active career by taking over a sector on this front. The Ansau- 
ville Sector was located about sixteen miles west of Toul. On January 15, 
1918, the 1st Division (less the 2d Infantry Brigade, 3d Battalion of the 5th 
Field Artillery and the 1st Battalion of the 7th Field Artillery) began march- 


670 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


ing from the Gondrecourt Training Area toward the new sector on the front, 
to which it had been assigned. It was a hard march with the weather cold 
and the roads covered with ice and snow. It began to rain in the middle of 
the day and turned into sleet. The men were heavily loaded, their packs 
included two blankets, emergency rations, half of the shelter-tent, extra shoes, 
underwear, mess equipment, and entrenching tools, in addition to the rife, 
bayonet, steel helmet, two gas masks, and a full ammunition belt. The heavy 
rain and sleet naturally increased the weight of this load and the wet skirts 
of their overcoats tended to impede their movements. With only a sand- 
wich for the noon meal, the men were hungry. The movement of artillery 
and trains could be carried on only with the greatest difficulty. Some of the 
infantry regiments marched as much as twenty miles during the day, which 
would have been a long distance even with good roads. When the Ist Divi- 
sion began to take over the trenches of the Ansauviile Sector it was under 
the command of Major-General Robert L. Bullard, who had succeeded Gen- 
eral Sibert as division commander. The command of this sector as a whole 
was not turned over to General Bullard until the fifth of February. General 
Bullard immediately issued a very brief order, that the troops of the Ist 
Division did not need to wait for the enemy to start a battle, but to fire first 
and keep control over “no-man’s-land” and to raid the enemy’s lines wherever 
possible. The weather was very disagreeable and men had to wear rubber 
boots constantly. Firing by artillery was kept up constantly on both sides 
with much rifle and machine gun fire, and frequent action by the enemy’s 
aeroplanes. French planes assisted the American batteries in the judgment 
of firing against the enemy positions. Trench raids were frequent on both 
sides. The division held its sector until relieved by the American 26th Divi- 
sion, during the first days of April. During the next two weeks the division 
rested in the Gisors Area, northwest of Paris. 

On April 17 the entire division started over various roads leading to the 
front, having been assigned to a new sector just north of Cantigny, to a 
point south of Mesnil-St. Georges, a distance of about two and one-half 
miles, at the point of the salient established by the German offensive in March. 
The division was then attached to the 6th French Army Corps, on the 2!st 
of April. In this new position, the 1st Division was chiefly concerned with 
holding its front. It was generally expected that the enemy would soon 
undertake to make another drive in the direction of Amiens, and that there 
would be assaults all along the line in the vicinity of the sector thus occupied. 
Night raids in “no-man’s-land” were frequent; prisoners were captured and 
brought in. Neither side had had time to complete barbed-wire entangle- 
ments in “no-man’s-land.” The sector received fire from more than ninety 
German battery positions. 

Throughout the greater part of the month of June, the 1st Division was 
located on the line in Picardy. While the sector thus occupied was not one 
on which hostilities were as active as elsewhere on the Western Front, the 
enemy was sufficiently active to keep both interest and discipline keyed up to 
a high point. 


_— 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 671 


Early in July the rst Division was transferred to the Marne Salient in 
the roth French Army. The division was assigned to the 20th French Corps 
commanded by General Berdoulat, along with the rst Moroccan Division. 
The 1st Division was transferred to this new assignment on the Western 
Front secretly, moving only at night, its forces being kept in hiding during 
the day-time in order to prevent the enemy aeroplane scouts from gaining 
information. The command of the 1st Division had had another change, Major 
General Charles P. Sommerall having been assigned to lead the division, 
just as it was ready to enter the new offensive at Soissons. This offensive 
began at 4:35 in the morning of July 18; this struggle which had scarcely 
been surpassed in its intensity throughout the great war, lasted all day and 
was resumed at 4 A. M., July 19, and continued during the four days follow- 
ing. 

The losses of the division were very heavy. In one instance, the 2d Bat- 
talion of the 16th Infantry, nearly the whole of two companies, had been 
killed and wounded, including all of the commissioned officers so that the 
remnant of the battalion was in command of a sergeant. All day on July 
19th, the advance was continued with the most stubbornly determined opposi- 
tion on the part of the enemy. The latter was in a desperate position, since 
if the salient could be cut and closed, four German divisions would be entrap- 
ped and lost. The third night came and with it the order that the advance 
would be resumed at 4:45 A. M. next day. It was expected that the Ist 
Division would be relieved on the night following the fourth day of the battle. 
Late in the day it was learned that a British division, which was to have 
taken its place, could not arrive in time to do so. That night, as darkness fell, 
the skies were lit up by fires which showed that the enemy was burning 
munitions and supplies throughout the Marne Salient in order to keep the 
same from falling into the hands of the allies. During the night large num- 
bers of German prisoners were captured. 

On the 5th day the enemy’s aeroplanes were very active, many of them fly- 
ing low and using machine guns. Advance parties of the British division 
which was to relieve the Ist, arrived in the morning and made reconnaissance. 
At midnight on July 22d the command of the sector passed to the Scottish 
Division, part of the 1st Division being held in reserve to support the latter. 
The losses of the 1st Division during the battle of Soissons were 77 officers and 
1,637 men killed or died of wounds, and 157 officers and 5,335 men wounded, 
with 76 men missing and 35 men captured. On the 4th day of the attack, the 
enemy began a general retreat from the Marne Salient. It has been well said 
that “in these four days, the face of the world had changed for Germany, and 
that the battle of Soissons was the turning point of the war.” 

The foot troops of the 1st Division were conveyed by French trucks, on 
July 23d, to Saizerais Sector. While this sector was comparatively quiet, the 
position was far from being a peaceable one. While stationed there, about 
7,000 replacements, including a large number of officers, came on August 24. 
The headquarters of the 1st Division was established at Vaucouleurs. The 
division was assembled in that area for special training for the part it was to 


672 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


take in the next battle. On September Ist, the movement was begun which 
placed the division where it was to help reduce the St. Mihiel Salient. This 
battle began at 1 A. M. on the morning of September 12. Its action during 
that day was fully equalled to its record in previous battles. Its losses during 
the day were, killed or died of wounds, 3 officers and 90 men; wounded, 10 
officers and 430 men; missing, 5 men; prisoners, 5 men. During the day the 
division captured 5 officers and 1,190 men, 30 field guns and howitzers, 50 
machine guns and large quantities of ammunition, small arms, stores, and 
equipment, including locomotives, trucks, wagons, horses, forage and artillery 
carriages. 

After the battle at St. Mihiel, the scene of the operations of the 1st Division 
was transferred to the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The division saw an active 
participation throughout the eight days of battle, which began October 4 and 
continued until October 11. During that time the division had advanced a 
distance of about four and one-half miles and had defeated portions of the eight 
enemy divisions. It had captured 28 enemy officers, 455 non-commissioned 
officers and 924 enlisted men. The enemy’s loss in killed and wounded was 
very great because of his stubborn defense. The losses of the division were, 
killed and died of wounds, 68 officers, 1,526 men; wounded, 128 officers, 5,706 
men; missing, 59 men; prisoners, 33 men, total casualties, 196 officers, 7,324 
men. The 1st Division was then ordered to Vavincourt Area for a brief period 
of rest; while there more than 8,000 officers and men were received to again 
fill the depleted ranks of its regiments and other units. It was not present 
during the second phase of the Meuse-Argonne battle. 

The division again entered the battle line at 5:30 A. M. November 6. The 
Meuse-Argonne offensive had largely become one of open warfare. Shortly 
after noon on November 6, a memorandum was received by the commanders 
of the rstand 5th Corps, which was to the effect that General Pershing thought 
the honor of entering Sedan should fall to the 1st American Army. Attention 
was also called to the effect that a favorable opportunity was then existing for 
pressing the American advantage throughout the night. The 1st Division was 
in a peculiarly advantageous position to respond to his suggestion. After read- 
ing the order and hearing a few words of explanation as to the intentions of 
the corps, the division commander responded: “I understand, Sir. I will now 
give my orders.” Between 4:30 P. M. November 5 and midnight November 7, 
the 1st Division had marched or fought without sleep or rest. During that 
time the 16th and 17th Infantry had marched over thirty miles, as also had the 
28th Infantry, while the 26th Infantry had marched over forty miles. During 
the course of this advance, the division losses had been, one officer and 73 men 
killed or died of wounds; 9 officers and 404 men wounded; 4 men missing, and 
I5 men prisoners, a total casualty list of 10 officers and 496 men. From thence 
on to the announcement of the Armistice on the morning of November 11th, 
the 1st Division was in the corps reserve. 

It fell to the lot of the 1st Division to form part of the American Army of 
Occupation. On December 12, it marched into the German city of Coblenz. 
Although drilling and discipline were kept up, most of the war-time tenseness 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 673 


was relaxed. Many of the officers and men were given leaves of absence to 
visit portions of France, Belgium, and England, while passes were issued for 
men to take excursions up and down the Rhine. 

The 1st Division began entraining for the homeward journey on August 15. 
The first unit embarked at Brest three days later and the last unit arrived at 
Hoboken September 6. The division had been overseas for more than two 
years and two months. The troops were stationed temporarily at Camp Mer- 
ritt, New Jersey, and Camp Mills, Long Island. They were informed that they 
were to parade in New York City on September 10; General Pershing and his 
staff having arrived September 8, it was announced that they were to lead the 
division. Inasmuch as the men had brought only their personal equipment, it 
was necessary to re-equip the entire division as for war, and to put the new 
material in condition that would conform to the standards of the 1st Division. 
Animals had to be shod, harness fitted and adjusted, and horses for the artil- 
lery and trains were to be equipped and groomed. Artillery carriages, trans- 
port wagons, and trucks had to be overhauled and painted, and all were to be 
so organized as to display to the American people the correct idea of a combat 
division at war strength. It took much self-sacrifice, devotion and hard work 
to accomplish all this in the limited length of time at command. As soon as 
the march was finished the troops were sent to Camp Mills and prepared for 
the journey to Washington, which movement was made between September 
10 and 16. On September 17 the division paraded in the National Capital, the 
line of march extending up Pennsylvania Avenue and past the White House, 
where it was received by the Vice-President and members of the Cabinet, the 
President not yet having returned overseas from the Peace Conference. From 
Washington, the division went to Camp Mead, Maryland, where all parade 
equipment was turned in and the division demobilized. All of the men and 
many of the officers who belonged to the temporary army were discharged and 
there remained but a few thousand who had enlisted at the beginning of the 
war or before, and who were retained by the War Department to complete 
their terms of service, or await their discharge at the end of the emergency 
which had called them together for service. 

During its service, the division had lost 204 officers and 4,760 men by death; 
463 officers and 16,395 men had been wounded.? 


The 36th Division—Under the National Defense Act, the first line of 
defense was the regular army, while the organized militia, better known as 
the National Guard of the several states, was to constitute the second line of 
defense. At the declaration of war against Germany, some of the National 
Guard organizations of Oklahoma and Texas were already in the service and 
the rest were soon ordered into service. The Oklahoma regiment was already 
in camp at Fort Sill; the Texas regiments were ordered to the Mexican border. 
Texas had three National Guard regiments of infantry, designated as the 2d, 


2. An acknowledgement is due “History of the First Division During the World War,” 
from which most of the material for the brief sketch of its part in that great conflict was 
extracted. 


Okla—43 


674 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


3d and 4th regiments. During the summer of 1917, Texas organized four new 
infantry regiments, respectively designated at the 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th regi- 
ments. The old Texas artillery units were increased to two complete regi- 
ments of field artillery and the Texas cavalry squad was increased to full regi- 
mental proportions. In addition, a battalion of engineers was organized and 
also a supply train; a field signal battalion; two ambulance companies and a 
field hospital company. 

In Oklahoma no new infantry troops were organized, though it had but 
one infantry regiment; three new companies of engineers were organized in 
addition to the one already in existence, thus making a full battalion of engi- 
neers, besides a squadron of cavalry and a field hospital company were com- 
pleted and a new ambulance company was organized. The latter, as well as 
the Texas supply train, were sent to Mineola, Long Island, where they were 
incorporated in the 42d or Rainbow Division and served throughout the war 
with that command. The Oklahoma regiment was kept at Fort Sill for nearly 
six months, while the three Texas regiments were kept on the Mexican border 
throughout the same period. The first troops to arrive at Camp Bowie (Ft. 
Worth, Texas), were the engineer units from Oklahoma, under the command 
of Major Frank B. King. The Oklahoma Infantry Regiment arrived a day or 
two later and was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Elta H. Jane, 
who had taken command of that organization when its former colonel, Roy 
Hoffman,? had been promoted to the grade of brigadier-general. Later, the 
Oklahoma Cavalry Squadron arrived under the command of Major Donald 
Bonfoey, as also the Oklahoma Field Hospital Company, commanded by 
Major Floyd J. Bolend. 

The day following the arrival of the.Oklahoma Infantry Regiment, the 
recently organized Texas troops began to come in—the older organizations not 
being sent up from the border for more than a month later. The Texas Infan- 
try regiments had been formed into two brigades of three regiments each, with 
the 7th Regiment extra. The 1st Texas Infantry Brigade was commanded by 
Brigadier-General Henry Hutchings and consisted of the 2d, 3d and 4th Texas 
Infantry regiments. The 2d Texas Brigade was commanded by Brigadier- 
General John A. Hulen, and was composed of the Ist, 5th and 6th Texas Infan- 
try regiments. The 7th Texas Infantry Regiment was commanded by Colo- 
nel Alfred W. Bloor, the only one of all the Texas colonels to remain in the 
command of a regiment throughout the war. Brigadier-General Hulen also 
retained his command throughout the war, being one of the very few briga- 
dier-generals of the National Guard to be accorded such a mark of efficiency. 
As each of these regiments was only recruited up to maximum National Guard 
peace strength—one hundred men per company—and, as the general strength 
of each regiment in the army was to be two hundred and fifty men per com- 
pany, with four lieutenants instead of two, all of these regiments were reorgan- 
ized by consolidation. The 1st and 2d Texas infantry regiments were con- 
solidated, and together redesignated as the 141st United States Infantry. The 


seat h sketch of the life and career of General Roy Hoffman will be found in Appendix 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 675 


142d United States Infantry was likewise formed and organized by the con- 
solidation of the 1st Oklahoma Infantry and the 7th Texas Infantry.4 The 
143d Infantry was formed by the consolidation of the 3d and sth Texas Infan- 
try, and the 144th United States Infantry was formed by consolidating the 4th 
and 6th Texas Infantry. The 111th United States Engineer Regiment was 
formed by the combination of the Oklahoma and Texas engineer battalions. 
The 111th Train headquarters of the military police was formed from similar 
Texas organizations reinforced by all organizations in the camp. The 111th 
Ammunition Train was made up of the ist Squadron of Oklahoma Cavalry, 
which formed the horse section, and suitable men from all arms of the division 
to form the motorized section. The 131st Machine Gun Battalion was com- 
posed of the machine gun companies of the 1st Texas Infantry and of the 3d 
and 4th Texas Infantry regiments, together with one additional company 
which was organized in skeleton form and filled with recruits from the selec- 
tive draft, mostly from Oklahoma. The 141st Infantry and the 142d Infantry 
constituted the 71st Infantry Brigade; the 72d Infantry was composed of the 
143d Infantry and the 144th Infantry. The 61st Artillery Brigade was com- 
posed of the Texas artillery units. 

The 36th Division had more Indians in its personnel than any other divi- 
sion in the American Army. Most of these were first placed in the 142d Regi- 
ment, in which there was one complete Indian company with fourteen tribes 
represented. Later these were scattered somewhat by transfer, but the com- 
pany retained its identity as an Indian company until it was demobilized and 
disbanded after the end of the war. 

The division commander was Major-General E. St. John Greble. General 
Greble was absent in France during part of the training period, having been 
sent there for a tour of observation duty. 

During the fall of 1917, officers and enlisted men from the French and 
British armies arrived at Camp Bowie for the purpose of establishing schools 
for the instruction of officers and non-commissioned officers in warfare as it 
had been developed during the first three years of the war. They gave courses 
of instruction in machine gunnery; in the use of the automatic rifle, in bayonet 
and grenade practice, and the firing of mortars, and in defense against gas; 
also, a school of military intelligence was conducted and the intelligence sec- 
tion of all units was organized. So efficient was the gas school that every 
officer and enlisted man in the division passed through the divisional gas 
chamber sometime during the winter and spring and learned how to manipu- 
late the new gas mask that had been fashioned for the American troops. Each 
regiment had its own schools for special instruction and bayonet practice, 
grenade and mortars. The men were also trained in digging and occupying 
trenches ; helmets and gas masks were worn and patrols covered a mimic “no- 
man’s-land.” Telephones and the buzzer systems of communication were 
actually in operation and barrage fire of artillery was represented for the troops 
to follow in attack and raiding formations. During the spring of 1918 all regi- 


4. An account of the consolidation of the 1st Oklahoma Regiment with the 7th Texas 
Regiment is to be found in Appendix XLIX-2. 


676 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


mental commanders were sent to school at Fort Sam Houston for six weeks, 
and other field officers remaining at camp were given special instructions under 
the direction of British and French officers. Officers who had been found lack- 
ing in necessary ability had been sent away for additional instruction or dis- 
charged from the service. In addition to this, the division had to give up many 
of its soldiers who were skilled in the mechanical trades, some of whom were 
sent to other camps and some sent over-seas to fill gaps that had already been 
created among the expeditionary forces. In the latter part of May, confidential 
instructions were issued covering the movement of the division for the port of 
embarkation. Every detail was carefully worked out, considered and ap- 
proved, only the actual date of departure was withheld. Finally in June, the 
actual order for departure was received and published confidentially to the 
command, railway transportation was centered at Fort Worth and all surplus 
property was turned in preparatory to departure. The division was trans- 
ported to Camp Mills, Long Island. The first trains to leave Camp Bowie, 
departed July 8. As practically all railroads remained available for troop trains, 
they did not all pass one way. The greatest secrecy was practiced in covering 
the time of departure of the trains, as well as their identity, in order to prevent 
all possibility of wrecks. The trip to port consumed an average of four days. 
General Greble had been relieved of the command of the division when it was 
sent to the seaboard. Major-General William R. Smith was assigned to the 
command of the division, a position which he retained until it was returned to 
the United States. 

While the division was stationed temporarily at Camp Mills, its troops were 
subject to daily inspections as to physical fitness and also as to equipment. 
Most of the troops sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey, though the 143d Infantry 
sailed from Newport News. This regiment passed through England and 
landed at Le Havre. Every effort was made to guard against attack by sub- 
marines. One fleet of eight transports, which sailed from New York harbor on 
the night of July 31st, convoyed by the United States Cruiser “Charleston,” 
carrying the artillery brigade, or ammunition train and the Ist battalion of 
the 142d Infantry, as well as parts of other units of the division, was attacked 
three times by submarines. The most serious of these attacks occurred the 
day before these transports arrived at Brest.® 

During the course of the training period, in the month of August, the divi- 
sion experienced a second attack of influenza. Fortunately the disease was a 
milder form than that which it developed in the United States shortly after- 
ward. The engineer regiment was withdrawn and assigned to the 1st Army 
Corps. Reduction from all causes had brought the strength of the division 
down to about twenty per cent. below what it should have been. Orders to 
proceed to the front were received on September 23, and two days later the 
actual movement of the troops began. By the 2gth, the division had arrived in 
the region surrounding Pocancy. The division was subjected to a visit from 
the enemy’s bombing squadron two days later, giving its officers and men 


5. An account of the submarine attack on the transport having part of the Oklahoma 
troops poet d. extracted from “The Story of the 36th,” pp. 33-36, will be found in Appen- 
dix XLIX-38. 


OKLAHOMA-—STATE AND PEOPLE | 677 


their first experience of being under the enemy’s fire. On the evening of Octo- 
ber 4, the movement of the first troops to the front line trenches was begun. 
Men were moved by caminons (trucks). They were not even allowed to light 
a cigarette as the striking of a match might have disclosed the movement to 
the enemy. Two hours before dawn on the 5th, the men of the 71st Brigade 
arrived at Somme-Suippe. There, for the first time, they came in contact with 
German prisoners, a large number of whom were confined within a barbed- 
wire enclosure. The officers and men of the brigade were surprised to find that 
some of these spoke English, having formerly lived in America. Late in the 
evening of that day the brigade commander (General Whitworth) and his 
regimental commanders (Colonels Jackson and Bloor) were called to a council 
by General John A. LeJeune, when it was explained that the 71st Brigade was 
to be attached to the 21st French Army Corps and, with it, was to relieve 
the 2d Division on the front line. On Sunday morning, October 6, orders 
were received for all units of the brigade to get under way for the front. This 
brigade took an active part in the fighting front of St. Etienne, which began 
on October 6th and continued until the roth. Both regiments of the brigade 
and the 132d Machine Gun Battalion had suffered severe losses. The 142d 
Infantry had something over eight hundred casualties—officers and men killed 
and wounded—while the 141st Infantry had suffered the loss of more than 
seven hundred officers and men. The losses in the Machine Gun Battalion had 
also been very heavy, considering the number of men engaged.® 

As the St. Etienne struggle drew to a close, the 72d Brigade had arrived 
on the field and began to relieve part of the 71st, which had so long been 
engaged, and also to advance over the ground abandoned by the retreating 
enemy. The 142d Infantry received a splendid tribute from the commanding 
officer of the French Division on the left. The latter declared that the work 
of this American Regiment in holding the ground around the St. Etienne in 
the face of the enemy’s bombardment and counter-attack after the unfavorable 
manner in which the assault had been launched, was nothing less than mirac- 
ulous. For the work of the whole 71st Brigade at this point, the entire division 
received a citation. Whole companies were without officers, yet in all such 
instances, the companies were reorganized by sergeants and corporals, who 
seemed able to cope with every condition and meet every emergency. It was 
reported that after one hot meal at the end of nearly a week of most strenuous 
fighting, the spirit of the entire brigade was renewed as its columns marched 
across the ground in advance of St. Etienne, with songs and jokes “bandied 
about as though they had spent the day before in New York or Paris. There 
were not as many to sing but they sang with the same spirit as they did when 
they marched into battle for the first time in their lives.” The whole division 
moved forward on the 12th and the 13th to the valley of the Aisne. 

The 36th Division was in the advance northward from the Aisne, through 
the Forest Ferme. By the 2d of November, the head of its leading columns 
entered the edge of the lower Argonne forest. Replacements were received, 


6. A copy of a letter from Major Harry B. Gilstrap to the widow of Captain Willis L. 
Pearce, of the 142d Infantry, will be found in Appendix XLIX-4. 


678 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


many of them being from the 34th Division—National Guardsmen from Ne- 
braska, South Dakota and Iowa, who had long been in training at Camp Cody, 
New Mexico. The spirit of the officers and men never flagged. The news 
that sifted in from their friends was making it apparent that the war was draw- 
ing to a close. 

The prospect of the end of the war did not cause any slackening in the 
matter of reorganization and reéquipment for a renewal of the struggle. The 
morning of November 7th brought news that the German government had 
asked for an armistice and that some of its representatives were on their way 
to France to treat for terms. It was noticeable that the French people seemed 
very skeptical as to this. Most of the troops of the division were drilling when 
news that a truce had been declared and that hostilities terminated, was re- 
ceived. About eleven o’clock in the morning the firing grew in volume; many 
wondered if the enemy had turned and was delivering an unexpected counter- 
attack. Very suddenly, then, all firing ceased and there was silence. ‘Then 
came the message sent by radio from Eiffel Tower, in Paris. The receipt of 
this was followed by a demonstration of great joy on the part of the soldiers. 
They would have been ready to return to the coast for embarkation to a home 
port on short notice. But that was not to be. There was to be no relaxation 
in the element of preparation for instant action, in case of necessity. The 
intensive training was to be continued. The question of the occupancy of 
Germany had not even been considered as yet. So, with a full realization that 
there might be further need for active service, the men settled down to the 
daily round of drills, maneuvers and the practice of scouting and patrolling 
and combat practice of the range. 

On November 18 the division received orders to move one hundred miles 
south from Paris. This move was made by marching and gave the division its 
most extended experience in that line of transportation. En route they passed 
through the 13th training area where they were warmly greeted and treated by 
the French people with whom they had lived while training before being first 
moved to the front. During the course of this march, the division was trans- 
ferred from the 7th Army Corps to the 1st Army Corps. The 36th Division 
was located at Cheney. 

It was during the course of this march that the 111th Engineer Regiment 
rejoined the division, from which it had been separated more than two months 
before. This regiment, which included the battalion from Oklahoma, had had 
its full share of hard service. It had engaged in road building and had been 
under fire, but fortunately, had suffered very few losses. Officers and men of 
this regiment were never actually engaged in combat action, but they were 
always ready to “go in” as other similar units did in a number of instances. 

After the war was ended and discipline could be relaxed, the men were 
encouraged in sports; football, basketball, baseball and other athletic sports 
were very popular. During the winter, officers and men of the division were 
able to secure passes and visited in Southern France, Italy, England and else- 
where. In addition to this, schools were conducted and universities of both 
France and Great Britain received officers and men from this division as 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 679 


students for brief sessions. One of the incidents of this period was the visit 
and inspection of General John J. Pershing, the American commander-in-chief 
on March oth. 

The homeward journey of the 36th Division began on March 17th from 
Brest. The 142d Infantry debarked at Boston and the 143d at Newport News, 
all the rest of the division landing at Hoboken. From these ports they were 
returned to Camp Bowie, at Fort Worth. The 142d Infantry detrained at 
Oklahoma City and marched in review through the streets to the Oklahoma 
Capitol. Officers and men of the 36th were mustered out at Camp Bowie as 
rapidly as possible and permitted to return to their homes.7 


The goth Division—The goth Division was organized and trained at Camp 
Travis (Ft. Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas). It consisted chiefly of trained 
men from Oklahoma and Texas at first. All of the junior officers were gradu- 
ates of the officers’ training school at Camp Travis, and practically all of them 
were from Texas. It included the 179th and 180th Infantry brigades. The 
179th Infantry Brigade was commanded by Brigadier-General J. P. O’Neil and 
was commonly called the Oklahoma Brigade. It was composed of the 357th 
Infantry, most of the men of which were from Western Oklahoma and 358th 
Infantry, most of the men of which were from Eastern Oklahoma. The 180th 
Brigade was commanded by Brigadier-General William H. Johnston; the 
160th Field Artillery Brigade consisted of the 343d, 344th, and 345th Field 
Artillery Regiments, with a howitzer regiment composing this brigade, which 
was commanded first by Brigadier-General Edward F. McGlachlan, who was 
succeeded later by Brigadier-General Francis C. Marshall. The division was 
commanded by Major-General Henry T. Allen, who assumed command of the 
camp on August 25, 1917, and the first recruits began to arrive ten days later. 
As fast as the men were checked in and assigned to companies, the work of 
drilling and training was begun. 

In November, General Allen was ordered to France for observation duty. 
He was succeeded by Brigadier-General James A. Gaston, who remained only 
about a month when General William H. Johnston of the 180th Infantry 
Brigade assumed command. In the late winter and early spring of 1918, the 
division was called upon to give up many of its officers and men for transfer to 
other divisions which were more nearly ready to be sent overseas. The de- 
pleted ranks were filled by fresh recruits and trained men from other camps. 
During the week following June 5th, practically every unit was sent from 
Camp Travis to Camp Mills, Long Island. During the three weeks between 
June 13 and July 6, the various units composing the division were embarked 
for the overseas voyage. Part of these units sailed from Boston, some of them 
from Philadelphia and the rest from New York. Although some of these 
landed directly in France, the majority passed through England, landing at 
Liverpool or Southampton. They were sent from England across the channel 
to Cherbourg or Le Havre; thence they were shipped inland and detrained at 
Recey-sur-Ource and thence marched to the training area north of Dijon, in 


7. An acknowledgment is due to “The Story of the 36th,” by Captain Ben Chastain, 
from which most of the data for the brief account of that organization has been extracted. 


680 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


the Cote-d’Or Mountains, on the plateau which divides the valley of the Seine 
from that of the Sadne. The 165th Field Artillery Brigade was sent to a new 
training camp known as Camp Hunt, at Le Courneau, south of Bordeaux; 
thenceforth its history is separate from that of the rest of the division. 

During the ensuing five weeks, the division remained in this area and 
underwent an intensive course of training. As many of the men were abso- 
lutely new recruits at the time they were shipped overseas, they had to pass 
through all the stages of drilling and intensive training in the brief space of 
five weeks in order to prepare them for combat service. Eight hours were 
devoted to drilling, bayonet exercises, intrenching, target practice, minor tac- 
tics and maneuvers each day. As many of the officers were absent at special 
schools, those who were with the troops were constantly engaged on duty. 
The sector where the Texas and Oklahoma men first entered the battle front 
was almost due north of Toul. The goth Division there relieved the 1st Divi- 
sion, which was a regular army organization. It was the first American divi- 
sion to enter the European battle front and its ranks had been greatly depleted 
by casualties in the recent fighting, some of its companies having lost all 
officers, killed or wounded, and were in command of sergeants. The relief of 
the 1st Division took place late in August. During the ensuing two weeks 
there was not much activity along the front occupied by the goth Division, 
though the usual artillery fire, the daily airplane patrol and patrol reconnais- 
sance were kept up. There were only fifty casualties during that period, of 
which only ten were fatal. Finally the order was issued for the great advance. 
It was very terse, “The First Army (U.S.) will cut off the St. Mihiel salient.” 
There were 216,000 American troops and 48,000 French troops in line, with 
about 190,000 American troops in reserve. The big attack was made on Sep- 
tember 12. The goth Division, along with the divisions of the 4th Corps en- 
gaged, gave good account of itself during the three days of this first engage- 
ment. 

Ten days after the battle of St. Mihiel, came the opening of the big Amer- 
ican offensive, the operations along the River Meuse. The battle of the Meuse- 
Argonne began on September 25, when big offensives were made. The ad- 
vance then slackened. The second phase of the battle began October 4, when 
the army, with many fresh troops, attacked early in the morning all along the 
line. In these first two phases, General Pershing, the American commander- 
in-chief, had been in personal command of the first army. On October Io its 
command was turned over to Lieutenant-General Hunter Liggett, who had 
commanded the 1st Army Corps at St. Mihiel. The goth Division did not 
enter the Meuse-Argonne sector until the second phase of the battle, and it 
rendered its greatest service during the third and last phase. From this on, 
the goth Division was constantly engaged and under fire until the hostilities 
were terminated by the Armistice. 

After the cessation of hostilities the goth Division marched into Germany 
following up the withdrawal of German forces. The headquarters of the 
division was established at Berncaster though the march was more like train- 
ing maneuvers than an advance into the enemy’s country. The strictest dis- 
cipline prevailed. The division remained in the Army of Occupation nearly 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 681 


five months. The final inspection and review of the division by General John 
J. Pershing, commander-in-chief, was held April 24th in a field near Wenger- 
ohr. The division was then withdrawn from the Army of Occupation, being 
sent by train to St. Nazaire, which was the port of embarkation for home. It 
ceased to function as a division when it left Germany. The first unit sailed 
May 26 and, within a week following, all the remaining units of the division 
had left France. The troops were debarked at New York City, Boston, New- 
port News, and Charleston, South Carolina. Most of the men were sent to 
Camps Bowie (Texas), Pike (Arkansas), Travis (Texas), and Dodge (Iowa), 
to be mustered out and discharged. 

Although the goth Division lost a large part of its enlisted strength and 
many of its officers to supply replacements for other divisions which had suf- 
fered combat deplations, and although it was so late being sent overseas that 
its aggregate service on the front lines. was less than that of other divisions, 
its record was one of which its officers and men should always be proud. 
Forty-one of its enlisted men made the supreme sacrifice on the battle lines, in 
the camps, or in its hospitals; three of its officers received the distinguished 
Service Medal, while twenty-two of its officers and fifty-three of its enlisted 
men received the Distinguished Service Cross before they were mustered out 
of service. A number of other Distinguished Service Crosses were issued to 
officers and men of the goth Division subsequent to its demobilization.§ 

Although Oklahoma is preéminently a land of peace, her people are always 
ready to do their part in war. War had crossed the borders into Oklahoma 
during the great internecine struggle of 1861-65; Oklahoma also experienced 
some touches of Indian wars in the late ’fifties, late ’sixties and early ’seventies. 
Many more of her young men volunteered for service in the war against Spain 
than were called for; but Oklahoma’s greatest offering was the young men 
who were willing to sacrifice their all, even life itself, in the great World War. 
It is impossible to say just how many men entered the military and naval serv- 
ices of the United States during the World War, for the reason that some 
’ Oklahoma men entered the service from other states, and some men from 
other states entered the service from Oklahoma. Under the old volunteer 
system it might have been possible to make an accurate check on such num- 
bers, but under the National Defense Act, the volunteer system had ceased and 
was no longer used. The National military authorities have never yet checked 
up to see just how many men from Oklahoma were in the service. According 
to the best data available, it is supposed that Oklahoma put in excess of 91,000 
men into the defensive forces of the United States during the World War. 

While this number of men, if organized separately as infantry, artillery, 
cavalry and special troops, could have easily constituted four divisions in the 
National Army, with not less than four division commanders and a dozen 
brigade commanders, Oklahoma only had two general officers to her credit 
during the World War—General Roy Hoffman, who entered the service from 
the Oklahoma National Guard, and General Hugh S. Johnson, who entered the 
service from the Regular Army, of which he had been an officer since his grad- 


8. Acknowledgments are due to “A History of the 90th Division,’ by Major George 
Wythe, for most of the material used in the account of that organization. 


682 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


uation from the United States Military Academy in 1903.9 However, if Okla- 
homa did not have many officers of high rank, she did have many officers and 
men who distinguished themselves in various ways during the course of the 
less than two years that the United States was involved in the war. The sig- 
nal ability of General Johnson above mentioned, though as only a captain, 
greatly facilitated and expedited the organization of the selective draft at the 
outbreak of the war, was such as to win for him the commission of one of the 
youngest, if not the youngest, general officers of the United States Army dur- 
ing that struggle. 

It would be a real pleasure to mention by name a number of Oklahoma 
officers who made good as military commanders and administrators in the 
course of their army service during the World War if it were possible in a 
work such as this. The real history of the part borne by Oklahoma men in 
that titanic struggle remains to be written by some inspired historian of the 
future. Both officers and men from Oklahoma secured many marks of official 
approval for their valor and meritorious conduct. This is evidenced by the 
fact, though there were but fifty Congressional Medals of Honor issued for 
service during the World War, three out of the fifty came to Oklahoma; six 
Oklahoma soldiers received the Distinguished Service Medal; while an even 
hundred received the Distinguished Service Cross. Of the foreign decorations, 
259 officers and soldiers received the French Croix de Guerre; eleven were the 
recipients of the Medaille Militaire; and three the decoration of the Legion 
d’Honneur—one as comamnder and two as chevalier; one that of an Officer of 
the Ordre de l’Etoile Noire; six received the Italian Croce di Guerra, and one 
the Italian War Service Ribbon; one received the Montenegrin Medaille pour 
le Bravoure Militaire; one received the British Military Medal; five received 
the British Distinguished Conduct Medal; four received the Belgian Medaille 
Militaire ; and one received the Belgian Crois de Guerre.1° 


9. Biographic sketch of General Hugh Johnson will be found in Appendix XLIX-5. 


10. Citations and the bestowal of decorations, for exceptional service for valor, are 
still being made occasionally by the War Department. One of the most recent of these 
(1929) is the decoration of Dr. William MclIlwain, of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, with the Dis- 
tinguished Service Cross. He had the distinction of being the medical officer on duty with 
Major Charles W. Whittlesey’s famous “Lost Battalion” of the 308th Infantry, during the 
time that it was separated from and out of communication with the rest of the American 
forces on the battle line, in the Battle of Chateau Thierry where, alone and surrounded by 
the enemy in overwhelmingly superior numbers, it maintained its integrity and its courage 
for hours until it was enabled to fight its way out and reéstablish its contact with the other 
forces of the army to which it belonged and the splendid spirit of which it typified. Doc- 
tor McIlwain, who was over sixty when he sought to enter the service, also has the dis- 
tinction of being the oldest officer of his rank (first lieutenant) when he entered the army. 


GEAR LER 


OKLAHOMA SINCE THE WORLD WAR 


CHAPTER L. 
OKLAHOMA SINCE THE WORLD WAR. 


_ The Seventh Legislature—The Seventh Legislature was already in ses- 
sion when Governor Robertson was inaugurated.1 As in the case of his 
predecessors, Governor Robertson found his first legislature in harmony 
with his program. Among the laws passed by this Legislature were a num- 
ber of acts pertaining to highways, highway administration and highway 
construction. No effort seems to have been made to embody these in one 
general act, however. Most important in this line was the passage of a joint 
resolution submitting to the vote of the people, an amendment to the Con- 
stitution to be known as Section 25-a of Article X, creating a state highway 
commission to consist of five persons, the Governor to be a member and 
ex-officio chairman thereof, and the other four members to be appointed by 
the Governor, and confirmed by the Senate. The amendment also proposed 
the building of twenty-nine state highways and finding the routes upon 
which these were to be built; it also proposed to provide for the issuance 
of the serial bonds of the State up to an aggregate of fifty million dollars, 
to defray the cost of such construction. 

Several of the state schools which had been temporarily discontinued as 
the result of an executive veto by Governor Williams, were reéstablished. 
These included the University Preparatory School at Tonkawa, the Eastern 
University Preparatory School at Claremore, which was reorganized as the 
Oklahoma Military Academy, and the State School of Mines at Wilburton. 
In addition to these, another state school of mines was established at Miami. 
That a need for such superfluous institution did not exist is evidenced from 
the fact that it was later reorganized as a junior college. It was commonly 
understood at the time that this school was established as the result of a 
bi-partisan political deal. 

The unified control of all state institutions not specifically under the con- 
trol of the Board of Agriculture, which had been vested in the State Board 
of Education during the preceding years, and which had been commonly 
regarded as a progressive as well as economical educational policy, was’ repu- 
diated and seven separate boards of regents were established instead. 

The State Library Commission was created and given supervisory control 


1. James B. A. Robertson was born in Keokuk County, Iowa, March 15, 1871. He 
removed to Kansas with his parents in 1873; was educated in the public schools and taught 
school for a time; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1893; was elected county 
attorney of Lincoln County in 1900, and served as judge of the Tenth Judicial District in 
1909 and 1910. He was a member of the State Capitol Commission for a brief period in 
1911, resigning to accept an appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court Commission the 
same year. He served in that capacity until 1914, when he resigned to run for the Demo- 
cratic nomination for Governor. He was a delegate to the National Convention in 1908 and 
was delegate-at-large to the National Democratic Convention at San Francisco in 1920. He 
was nominated as a Democratic candidate for Governor in 1918; was elected and served 
the full term, ending in January, 1923. He has been very active in fraternal circles and 
was Grand Sire of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows in 1915. Since the close of 
his service as Governor he has been engaged in the practice of law at Oklahoma City. 


686 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


over the public libraries of the State. It also took over the circulating library 
already started and in operation by the Extension Division of the State Uni- 
versity, where it was installed in the capitol and has since been in operation.” 
It has proven to be a very useful and helpful institution. The Legislature also 
provided for the creation of a State Issues Commission. This commission 
was clothed with power to investigate and issue permits for sale of stock by 
new corporations. Its object was to prevent smooth promoters from selling 
stock in “blue sky” enterprises under the shadow of authority claimed to be 
granted by the corporation laws of the State. Similar laws have been enforced 
in a number of other states. Strange to say, there has been much opposition 
to it in subsequent legislatures. 

An elaborate budget system for estimating needed appropriations for state 
departments and state institutions was also adopted. It was supposed to be 
a step in the interest of economy in the matter of appropriations and expendi- 
tures in the State’s business. Unfortunately the actual results secured do not 
seem to have warranted all such expectations. 

Prior to the special election on the highway amendment to the Constitu- 
tion, Governor Robertson announced the names of a number of the most 
prominent citizens and business men in the State, with the statement that 
the members of the proposed highway commission should be selected from 
the list. While the names on this list were those of men whose character, 
ability and judgment was such as to commend them to every intelligent 
citizen, this announcement did not seem to have any appreciable effect in the 
election. In the special election, the adoption of fifty million dollar road 
bond issue was defeated by a majority of nearly fifty thousand votes. There 
had been organized a movement to defeat the bonds. Senator Elmer Thomas, 
of Lawton, was the directing head of this opposition movement. Several 
state legislators and employees, who had been campaigning for the adoption 
of the bond movement, had their salary bills disapproved by State Auditor 
Frank Carter. The regular quadrennial discharge of the State Normal School 
presidents followed the reorganization of the State Board of Education, 
scholastic administration being still subservient to dominant factional control. 

With the gradual withdrawal of the military forces from overseas, the 
people of Oklahoma were gladdened by the announcement that most of the 
Oklahoma fighting men would be returned to their homes during the late 
summer and early fall of 1919. Everywhere they were greeted with splendid 
demonstrations of welcome; practically every city, town and village in the 
State turned out en masse to do them honor. But, amid the merry call of the 
bugles, the crash of martial music, the flutter of the flags in the breezes and 
the rhythmic tread of marching feet, there was felt, but unheard, a note of 
sadness, in memory of the lads who had marched away at the call of duty, 


2. The circulating library of the State Library Commission reaches nearly every 
county in the State. There are now sixty public libraries in the State of Oklahoma, not 
counting those connected with the State institutions of learning. Of these, twenty-eight 
have been established since the State Library Commission has been created. Oklahoma 
was practically blacklisted by the library division of the Carnegie foundation because 
the towns in which Carnegie libraries had been built were not keeping up the agreed main- 
tenance funds. The library commission, by means of careful surveys and tactful influ- 
ence with municipal officials, succeeded in getting all of these to restore and continue the 
regular maintenance appropriation. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 687 


during the two preceding years, and who were now sleeping beneath the 
white crosses, row on row,” on the war-torn fields of foreign soil. 


_ Business Conditions—In common with the rest of the country, business 
did not seem to adjust itself at once to the return of peace-time conditions. 
The cost of living remained unnecessarily high, and there was much com- 
plaint. Prices were still advancing and that without any reason—in other 
words, profiteering had become a mania. Inasmuch as building operations 
had been reduced to a minimum, during the war, there was a great shortage 
of housings in the more rapidly growing cities and towns of Oklahoma. Prices 
for real estate advanced sharply, while rents went to almost prohibitive prices. 
Farm lands had advanced also, and prices on farm products, with the excep- 
sates of that of wheat, which had been limited by the Government, went very 

igh. 

During the course of the war, wages were high. The Government had 
controlled wages in the transportation and coal mining industry, as well as 
freight rates on coal. With the return of peace, it seemed plainly apparent 
that coal operators and coal miners were not going to be able to reach an 
agreement as to wages. A nation-wide coal miners’ strike was declared and in 
October, 1919, the mines of Oklahoma were closed with those of the rest of 
the country. This action, taking place October 18, the beginning of winter, 
caused grave apprehension throughout the country. The situation was com- 
plicated by reason of the fact that, radical agitators, many of whom were not 
miners, seized the opportunity to sow still further seeds of dissension. In 
Oklahoma, as in other states, the Governor seized the mines on behalf of the 
patronizing public and asked for volunteers to help operate the mines. De- 
tachments of both the National Guard and the Regular Army troops were 
sent into the coal mining districts of Oklahoma to help preserve order. Nego- 
tiations between coal mine operators and strike leaders seemed to make no 
headway. The matter was finally passed up to President Wilson, and the 
strike was ended November 13, after six weeks of great anxiety on the part 
of the patronizing public, as well as that of state and national officials. 

Joseph B. Thompson, of Pauls Valley, representative in Congress, from 
the Fifth District, died quite suddenly, on a train while on his way home from 
Washington, September 18, 1919. A special election was called to be held 
November 8, with a primary election for party candidates to be held on 
October 18. There were eight aspirants for the Democratic nomination, five 
of these being from Oklahoma City. The primary election resulted in the 
selection of Claude Weaver of Oklahoma City, former represent&tive-at- 
large in Congress, as the Democratic nominee, and John W. Harreld, also of 
Oklahoma City, as the Republican nominee. In the election the latter was 
successful, receiving a plurality of twelve hundred votes over his opponent. 


Campaigns Begin Early—Several aspirants for the Democratic nomina- 
tion for United States senator in opposition to the renomination and reélec- 
tion of Senator Thomas P. Gore, were announced considerably more than a 
year before the time of holding such election. The Republicans’ preliminaries 
began early also, and with the difference that their bone of contention was 


688 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


the Oklahoma membership of the National Republican Committee instead of 
the United States senatorship. In each instance the fight, thus begun, became 
very acrimonious. 


Special Legislative Session—On call of the Governor, the Seventh Legis- 
lature was in special session from February 23 to February 28, 1920. It was 
convened for the purpose of ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, the purpose of which was to confer the vote 
of citizenship upon women. Only two bills were passed; one for deficiency 
appropriation and one for expenses of the special session. Thirteen resolu- 
tions, Senate and House, joint and concurrent, were passed. 


Political Campaign of 1920—As already stated, interest in the political 
campaign of 1920 became manifest more than a year before its issues could 
be settled in an election. This was because of the personalities involved in 
both parties. In the Democratic party, the struggle took the form of opposi- 
tion to the reélection of Senator Gore which had been engendered because of 
the general feeling that he had not been in harmony with the national admin- 
istration in its war policies and in its efforts to bring about satisfactory peace 
conditions. In the Republican party, the chief source of contention was the 
rivalry over the choice of a national committeeman for the ensuing quadren- 
nium. There was much bitterness in each of these struggles. 

James J. McGraw, the Republican national committeeman, was a candi- 
date for reélection. Opposed to him was Jake L. Hamon, promoter and rail- 
road builder, of Ardmore. The latter did not hesitate to inject a sectarian 
issue in his fight against the election of McGraw, who was a Catholic. Money 
was expended freely—so freely, in fact, that many members of the party were 
dissatisfied if not disgusted. This resulted in an effort to bring out a com- 
promise candidate, but without avail. Hamon was elected, despite the fact 
that his methods were decidedly distasteful to a large part of the members 
of his party. 

The opposition to Senator Gore’s candidacy for reélection chiefly clustered 
around and supported the candidacy of Scott Ferris, of Lawton, who, since 
statehood, had represented his district in the Lower House of Congress. 
There were other candidates in the field, but none of these seemed to make 
much headway. Ferris proved to be an easy winner in the primary election. 
As his Republican opponent at the general election, John W. Harreld, who 
had been elected to the House of Representatives less than a year before, 
was nominated. 

A condition which was without precedent in the history of primary elec- 
tions was created in the Eighth Congressional District by the unexpected 
death of Representative Dick T. Morgan, a month before the primary election 
but after the time limit for the filing of candidacies for nomination thereby 
had been closed. As a consequence, the nomination went by default to the 
only other Republican aspirant, Manuel Herrick, whom no one had ever taken 
seriously as a Congressional possibility. Bad as this was, however, the pre- 
valence of a partisan spirit which sent him to the halls of Congress, to make 
Oklahoma the laughing stock of the nation, was worse. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 689 


Another incident which aroused much popular interest, just about a month 
before the primary election, was occasioned by several pardons and paroles 
which had been issued under rather unusual circumstances. Governor Robert- 
son had been severely criticized because of his rather free use of the executive 
power in the pardon and parole of convicted criminals. Campbell Russell, 
well known as a tireless agitator for the civic betterment, regardless of parti- 
san considerations, had initiated a bill for the regulation of pardon and parole 
matters, which measure was to be voted upon by the citizenship of the State 
at the ensuing general election. Governor Robertson had left the State to 
attend the National Democratic Convention, at San Francisco, leaving Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Trapp as acting Governor in his absence. Several days later, 
the latter was called out of the State on personal business, leaving the presi- 
dent of the Senate as acting Governor, The latter proceeded to issue pardons 
to Oklahoma’s most notorious “bootlegger” and two of his confederates, after 
which he, too, departed from the State, leaving the speaker of the House of 
Representatives as Governor ad interim. Not to be outdone as a dispenser 
of executive clemency, the latter then issued a pardon to the defaulting presi- 
dent of an insolvent bank and to a convicted violator of one of society’s most 
sacred laws. 

The political campaign of 1920 was a hotly contested one in Oklahoma, 
considering the fact that the election of state officers was not to be held that 
year. The presidential nominee of both political parties visited Oklahoma to 
meet and greet and address its citizens, marking a measure of interest in the 
state and its people that was without precedent in most of the states of the 
Union. President Wilson was also scheduled to speak in the State, but his 
sudden physical collapse at Wichita, Kansas, necessitated the cancellation of 
his engagement, greatly to the disappointment of the vast throng of Okla- 
homa people who had gathered at the State Fair to see and hear him. More- 
over, for the first time in its history, a very determined effort was made by 
the Republicans to secure the election of their nominee for the United States 
Senate. 

The result of the election was surprising to the Democratic leaders of the 
State, which gave its electoral vote to Harding and Coolidge and sent John 
W. Harreld to the United States Senate. In addition to this, the Republicans 
also elected a strong working majority in the lower branch of the State Legis- 
lature; though the Democrats still held control of the Senate, it was by a 
reduced majority. The Republicans also elected four justices of the Supreme 
Court, one justice of the Court of Criminal Appeals and one member of the 
Corporation Commission. The Republicans also elected five out of eight 
members of Congress in Oklahoma and one of these, Miss Alice Robertson, 
of Muskogee, was not only the first woman so honored by an Oklahoma Con- 
gressional district, but also the second woman elected to membership in the 
National House of Representatives. 


The Eighth Legislature—When the Eighth Legislature convened in Jan- 
uary, 1921, it was the first time in the history of the State Government that 


3. Daily Oklahoman, July 8, 1920; also Oklahoma News, July 3, 6, 7, and 8. 
Okla—44 


690 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


an administration had been confronted with a condition wherein one branch 
of the Legislature was controlled by an opposition party. The Republican 
party having always recognized the fact that it was in the minority, it had 
often permitted some of its party nominations, even for very important offices, 
to go by default. In the campaign of 1920, this had been permitted to happen 
again in a number of instances, both in the Legislature and in the case of 
some of the higher offices involved. The result was that though it had a 
majority in the House of Representatives, not all of the members so elected 
were peculiarly adapted for such service. The convening of the Legislature 
was the signal for the gathering of the Republican party leaders of the State. 
They made no secret of the fact that the organization of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and the policy of the dominant party therein, should be subject to 
the influence and control of the Republican State Committee; in other words, 
it assumed a guardianship, if not, indeed, a dictatorship over the Republican 
majority in the House of Representatives. At the same time, the State Com- 
mittee and its leadership was manifestly much more greatly concerned in the 
expediency of an effort to investigate and secure proof of corruption on the 
part of Democratic officials than it was in the formulation of a strong legisla- 
tive program, consequently, the opportunity which had been presented to the 
Republican party was wasted and the vantage-ground which it had gained 
was lost. 

The Eighth Legislature was memorable as being the first one in which 
women sat as members. Mrs. Lamar Looney, of Hollis, represented the 
Fourth District in the State Senate; Mrs. Bessie McColgin, of Rankin, rep- 
resented Roger Mills County, in the Lower House. Senator Looney was a 
Democrat and Mrs. McColgin a Republican. It is worthy of remark that the 
two ladies thus honored, each resided in Western Oklahoma within a few 
miles of the Texas Panhandle line. 

Before the legislative session was half through, it was apparent that there 
would be no constructive legislation. Anything that the Republican-controlled 
House of Representatives might pass was sure to receive scant, if any, con- 
sideration at the hands of the Democratic majority in the Senate and, on the 
other hand, anything that was championed and passed by the Democratic 
Senate was sure to encounter a mighty slim chance for passage when it 
reached the Republican Lower House. In the House of Representatives the 
chief ambition of the leaders seemed to be to find something with which to 
discredit the individual Democratic State officers. Impeachment charges were 
voted by an investigating committee against Lieutenant-Governor Trapp and 
against State Treasurer A. N. Leecraft. Similar charges were also proposed 
to be filed against Governor Robertson but did not secure quite enough votes. 
The party program included also, the removal of several other State officials. 
The prosecution failed to make a case against Lieutenant-Governor Trapp. 
The House refused to adopt an impeachment resolution against State Treas- 
urer Leecraft. In the end, the investigation failed to accomplish any tangible 
results. 

The session dragged out to an unprecedented length. Finally on April 2 
the House of Representatives suddenly voted unceremoniously, to adjourn 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 691 


sine die, without consulting the Senate. The House claimed that the Senate 
had been playing politics and the Senate claimed that the House had been 
playing politics; as a matter of fact, each could see the mote in the other’s 
eye, without recognizing any intervening beam, The press of the State 
bristled with belligerent comment in which honors were about even between 
the two parties. The most important appropriation measures had not been 
passed, consequently the talk of an extra session soon became mooted. The 
Governor convened the Legislature in extra session the 25th of April, which 
was adjourned May 21. 

The net result of the two sessions did not mean a great deal in the way of 
legislation to the State as a whole. There was a large grist of local bills, 
mostly relating to salaries, of particular county officials in various counties. 
The Soldiers Relief Commission was created and its powers and duties de- 
fined. Five hundred thousand dollars were appropriated to be expended by 
this commission for the erection of a memorial hospital and $50,000 was appro- 
priated to carry on relief work among sick, wounded, and disabled ex-service 
men of the World War, their destitute wives, widows and minor children. 
Provision was also made for an educational survey of the State, of which a 
more extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume. 


Reorganization of the National Guard—The Oklahoma National Guard 
had first been organized during the early part of the Territorial period. Natu- 
rally, it was not very well supported and there was but little to hold its organi- 
zation together, except the enthusiasm and devotion of its officers. At the 
outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Oklahoma was allowed a small quota 
in the formation and the organization of the 1st United States Volunteer Cav- 
alry (Roosevelt’s Rough Riders) and, later, it was permitted to recruit and 
organize a full battalion for the 1st United States Territorial Volunteers. In 
the latter instance, however, the call disregarded National Guard organiza- 
tions and service and most of the selections for commissions in volunteer 
service were made directly from civil life. 

In 1899 the Oklahoma National Guard was reorganized as a full regiment 
of infantry, with a signal company, and an engineer company was added in 
1903. This remained the form of the organization until statehood. Several 
years after the State was admitted to the Union, two troops of cavalry were 
added, and this constituted the force of the organized militia of the State at 
the time that the United States entered the World War on the side of the 
Allied National. In due time all of these organizations were inducted into 
the Federal service and their designations changed. 

Early in 1918, while the World War was at its most critical period, it was 
decided to organize additional National Guard troops in Oklahoma; in the 
spring and summer of that year the 2d and 3d regiments were recruited and 
organized under the National Defense Act, the old Guard all having been 
called into service. Later one separate battalion of infantry was organized. 
The old 1st Regiment was never reorganized after its officers and men had 
been discharged from the service at the close of the war. In the meantime, 
the separate battalion had been absorbed by the 2d and 3d regiments to 


692 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


replace other companies mustered out of the service. These two regiments 
constituted the whole of the organized militia of Oklahoma until the National 
Defense Act was further amended in 1920. 

Throughout the entire history of the Guard, from its reorganization in 
1899, there had always been more or less political favoritism used in selection 
of officers, and in promotions from one grade to another. In some instances 
officers who had been careful, conscientious students were “jumped over” by 
the juniors of much less military service, experience, knowledge, and skill. 
Such a condition naturally made for demoralization rather than development. 
There were governors who, as commanders-in-chief, not only knew nothing 
about military matters themselves, but they also knew nothing about the 
selection of military advisors. Indeed, instances were not lacking in which 
the adjutant-general could only approach the commander-in-chief through an 
intermediary who was himself lacking in a knowledge of military affairs. 
Moreover, most adjutant-generals themselves were selected from civilian life 
and wholly without previous military experience of any character whatsoever. 

Under the provisions of the amended National Defense Act of 1920, the 
United States was divided into nine army corps areas, the several states being 
assigned to such corps areas in groups according to geographical location and 
population. Oklahoma was assigned to the 8th Corps Area along with the 
states of Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, with the corps head- 
quarters at Fort Sam Houston (San Antonio), Texas. The troops of each 
corps consisted of one Regular Army division, two National Guard divisions 
and three Reserve divisions. When this new scheme of organization was put 
into effect, the adjutant-general of Oklahoma was Brigadier-General Charles 
F. Barrett, who had seen longer and more continuous service as an officer of 
the Oklahoma Guard than any other individual of either enlisted or com- 
missioned grade.* By reason of this long service and experience and his care- 
ful study of military matters, he was far better qualified to fill that position 
than any of his predecessors. Because the Oklahoma National Guard had 
been inadequate as to strength and organization, its troops had suffered badly 
in the matter of securing state recognition in the World War. Indeed, with 
approximately ninety thousand Oklahoma troops called to the colors, with 
the exception of the 141st Machine Gun Battalion, not a single state organiza- 
tion of Oklahoma had received either designation nor recognition as such. 
For this reason, General Barrett determined that Oklahoma should receive 
due recognition in the reorganization of its National Guard under the 
National Defense Act. Consequently, at the earliest practicable moment, the 
work of organizing new units was begun. First, the designation of the two 
regiments already existing were changed, the 2d Regiment being designated 
as the 179th United States Infantry and the 3d Regiment likewise having its 
designation changed to the 180th Infantry. General Barrett also took up with 
the Army authorities at the 8th Corps Headquarters and with the War Depart- 
ment at Washington, the matter of securing authority for the organization 
of additional regiments in Oklahoma, his request being practically an insistent 
demand. The result was that Oklahoma was finally authorized to organize 


4, A sketch of General Charles F. Barrett will be found in Appendix L-1. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 693 


three regiments of artillery, the 120th Medical Regiment, also one battalion 
of the 120th Combat Engineer Regiment. The artillery regiments were desig- 
nated respectively as the 158th and 160th United States Field Artillery regi- 
ments (both equipped with French “75’s,” horse-drawn) and the 189th Field 
Artillery (equipped with “155’s,” tractor-drawn). These troops were organ- 
ized into the goth Brigade of Infantry and the 7oth Brigade of Field Artillery. 
Because of its size and population, Texas was allowed one full division of 
National Guard troops. Oklahoma, because of its population and the strength 
of its organized National Guard, received the Division Headquarters of the 
45th Division, with the organized National Guard of the other three states of 
the 8th Corps Area composing the rest of the Division. 

During the Territorial period, the National Guard held annual encamp- 
ments for instruction and drill. These encampments were moved from year 
to year among six or eight of the larger cities and towns of the Territory. 
After statehood, a military camp ground was established at Chandler, despite 
the fact that there were two Federal military’ reservations in Oklahoma to 
which the Territory and State would have been welcome to send the citizen- 
soldiers for such practical military training. When General Barrett assumed 
charge as acting adjutant-general, in 1919, he made arrangements for the 
annual encampment of the Oklahoma National Guard to be held on the Fort 
Sill military reservation, where it has been held annually ever since. 

Considering its size and population, Oklahoma has one of the strongest 
and best National Guard organizations in the United States. In this connec- 
tion, it is worthy of remark that a citizens’ military training camp is also held 
at Fort Sill each summer. Permanent buildings for National Guard encamp- 
ments have been constructed. The Guard has a large modern equipment and 
is fitted to render a good account of itself whenever called upon in a military 
emergency. 


The Ku Klux Klan—In 1920, a new organization, known as the Ku Klux 
Klan, made its appearance in Oklahoma. Not only did it appropriate the name 
of the ghostly, night-riding regulators of the Reconstruction period, but it 
also adopted the same livery and regalia, and a very similar form of organiza- 
tion. Moreover, it also announced itself as the champion of “white suprem- 
acy.” However, the race issue was a matter of minor consideration in com- 
parison with its other purposes, namely, that of opposition to Catholicism and 
adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and also to all Jewish people. This 
organization grew by leaps and bounds so that, within a year or two, it was 
reputed to have secured a membership of many thousands in Oklahoma and 
neighboring states. It then began to take an active part in political affairs. 

Professedly standing for civic and social righteousness and holding a deep 
reverence for law, it was charged with having arrogated unto itself the right 
to compel others to respect and obey the laws and certain canons of social 
conduct. It was accused of sending warnings to evil doers, and failures to 
heed the same were alleged to have been punished by clandestine whippings 
and other forms of physical violence. Inasmuch as such whipping parties were 
always masked and robed, whether the Ku Klux Klan was always responsi- 


694 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


ble for such visitation, or otherwise, it always received the blame for such 
unlawful manifestations. That the spirit thus displayed was, in part at least, 
the outgrowth of the hysteria which had been inculcated under the forms of 
law by some of the councils of defense during the World War, is not im- 
probable. 

Its tenets were alleged to have included a belief that the Catholic Church 
and its communicants were very intolerant, yet, from much preachment con- 
cerning the evil effects of the alleged spirit of intolerance in others, it rapidly 
became imbued with an equally intolerant spirit from its own view-point. 
Moreover the effects of its existence and activities were such as to breed 
suspicions, jealousies and enmities in nearly every community in which it had 
been organized. These also afforded the calculating demagogues such an 
opportunity for passionate appeals to prejudice as had not been presented in 
years. That trouble should follow the existence of such a condition was only 
to have been expected. 

The organization and operation of a political secret society has never been 
justified in a nation where free institutions exist. All previous efforts in such 
a line had failed, just as the Ku Klux Klan was destined to fail, despite the 
seeming success of its efforts at organization for a time. It is not only an 
unwise way to attempt any political end but is also destructive and may prove 
to be very dangerous as well. 


The Tulsa Race Riot—On the evening of June 1, 1921, there occurred a 
disgraceful race riot at Tulsa. At least one hundred people were killed and 
property to the value of approximately one and one-half million dollars was 
destroyed. Three hundred officers and men of the Oklahoma National Guard 
were placed under arms and ordered to the scene of the disturbance, Adjutant- 
General Charles F. Barrett personally taking charge. As soon as the militia 
had restored order, the civil authorities at Tulsa and in Tulsa County, exerted 
themselves to the utmost to alleviate the suffering and distress of the negro 
people whose homes and other property had been destroyed. The city of 
Tulsa promptly announced that it would rebuild their homes. 


Red River Dispute—One of the most important incidents during the 
Robertson administration was the dispute concerning the ownership of the 
river bed, or channel, of Red River, between Texas and Oklahoma. This dis- 
pute was due to the fact that oil operators were beginning to drill oil wells in the 
channel of the river. In the treaty between Spain and the United States the 
northern boundary of Texas which was then a part of the Spanish-Mexican 
dominions, was declared to be the south bank of Red River. This stream has 
a wide, sandy channel, most of which is not navigable. There never had been 
any cause for dispute in regard to the ownership of the channel before. 

When oil was discovered in Northern Texas, however, the question as to 
the ownership of that part of the bed of Red River which was located in the 
oil fields suddenly became very important. The State of Texas claimed the 
south half of the channel and issued oil leases on the same. The State School 


5. A further discussion of the Tulsa race riot will be found in Appendix L-2. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 695 


Land Department of Oklahoma laid claim to the entire channel and made 
oil leases which over-lapped those of Texas. In addition to this, certain Indian 
allotments were claimed to extend to the middle of the river or beyond, and 
oil leases were issued on these by Indian Service officials. At the same time, 
there were other people who, believing that a river bed between two states 
belonged to the United States, proceeded to file mineral claims on these river 
bed areas, under the Federal mining and mineral land laws. With so many 
conflicting claims to portions of the river bed, it was not strange that a dis- 
pute soon found its way into the courts. In due time the Supreme Court of 
the United States decided that the river bed, so far as the middle of the stream 
was concerned, belonged to the United States, hence the leases made by the 
Oklahoma State School Land Department for drilling oil wells on the north 
half of the Red River channel, were confirmed. 


Business and Politics—During the World War there was a rapid increase 
in prices on all commodities, both agricultural and manufactured, wages of 
laboring men, rents, and the cost of living also advancing sharply. The end of 
the war found many of the European nations impoverished and without 
means to purchase even the necessities of life in the markets of the world. 
As a result of this, the people of the United States soon found that the demand 
for American goods was rapidly declining, and prices, generally, began to 
drop. With the decline of the price of wheat, cotton and meats, the values of 
land and livestock and other farm property rapidly decreased. This agricul- 
tural depreciation affected business of nearly every other kind. A financial 
stringency followed, money was scarce, numerous banks had to close their 
doors, and mercantile houses were forced into bankruptcy; employers were 
planning to lower the wages of laboring men. There was small prospect of 
an immediate recovery for the farming industry, many farmers having lost 
nearly everything. 

At this juncture, a conference was called to be held at Shawnee, September 
17, 1921, by leaders of the State Federation of Labor, the Farmers’ Union and 
members of some of the railway organizations. About six hundred delegates 
were present. After considerable discussion, a new political movement to be 
known as the Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League was organized. To some 
extent, it was modeled after the Non-Partisan League which had been domi- 
nant in North Dakota politics for several years preceding. A platform was 
adopted. This, while brief, voiced in incisive terms some very insistent de- 
mands. These included: the extension of the scope of State and National 
cooperative laws; increasing the scope of the Department of Agriculture, 
especially with regard to grading and marketing farm products; the estab- 
lishment of a state bank; a system of home ownership; free textbooks in the 
schools; an eight-hour day for labor; prohibition of child labor and a mini- 
mum wage for women. It was proposed to take an active part in state politi- 
cal affairs. 

The year 1922 was still young when the preliminary movements and 
announcement of aspirants for party nominations began to appear. The 
Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League held a convention at Shawnee, Febru- 


696 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


ary 22-23-24, with the result that it endorsed candidates for all important offices 
on the Democratic ticket. The proposed endorsement of Mayor John C. Wal- 
ton, of Oklahoma City, for the nomination for Governor was the signal for a 
most enthusiastic demonstration on the part of the convention. While Walton 
had not made a previous announcement of his candidacy, it had been an open 
secret that he would do so if he was “drafted.” Walton was nominated on the 
Democratic ticket in the state primary election, which was held in August. 
Walton’s political opponent was John Fields, who had been the Republican 
nominee for Governor eight years before. 

During the campaign which preceded the primary election, there was very 
keen rivalry for the nomination for State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, so much so that in two instances at least, the aspirants were willing to 
make a sacrifice in salary as compared with those of positions then held. In 
one instance, indeed, a candidate who was receiving an annual stipend of 
$4,200.00, with house-rent furnished in addition as president of a normal 
school, was very keen to secure a nomination and election as state superin- 
tendent, at a salary of $2,500.00 per year. 

In addition to the support of the Democratic party and with a strong fol- 
lowing in the Reconstruction League, Mr. Walton also had the support of 
most of the Socialists and former Socialists. He was elected by a large major- 
ity. Most of the members of the Legislature who were chosen at the same 
time, were more or less in sympathy with the ideas and policies of the organi- 
zation which had championed his nomination and election.® 


The Walton Administration—The inauguration of Governor Walton was 
noted for the most picturesque demonstration ever witnessed in Oklahoma— 
a monster parade followed by the biggest barbecue dinner ever given’ in 
America. Thousands of visitors from every part of the State, and some from 
the surrounding states, crowded the capital city. 

The new Governor devoted himself to the task of persuading the Legisla- 
ture to pass such measures as had been demanded by those interests which 
had been responsible for his nomination and election. In this effort he was 
not wholly successful. Immediately after the close of the legislative session, 
the capital was besieged by crowds of office seekers. Many new offices had 
been created but the applicants for these far exceeded the number of places 
to be filled. The Governor tried to favor his friends as far as possible. In the 
departments where he had full control, there were more clerks appointed than 
were necessary for the work. The State educational institutions were for the 


6. John Calloway Walton was born in Indiana in 1881. During his boyhood his parents 
moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was educated in the public schools and in a busi- 
ness college. He served for a time as a railway mail clerk and as a railway brakeman; 
subsequently as a terminal superintendent and as an engineer. He came to Oklahoma City 
in 1908 as a commercial traveler, later became interested in engineering and contracting. 
He was elected a member of the city commission in 1917 and, in 1919, was elected mayor. 
A strong partisan, he made a successful appeal to a large part of the citizenship of Okla- 
homa City and eventually came before the people of the State as a whole. Since the end of 
his brief term as Governor he has only lived in Oklahoma a part of the time and now 
resides in Houston, Texas, where he is engaged in the oil business, though he still claims 
Oklahoma City as his legal residence. Since his appearance as an aspirant for the Demo- 
cratic nomination for United States Senator, in 1926, he has not taken a very active part in 
the political affairs of the State, though did some campaigning in 1928 for the National 
Democratic ticket. 


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GOVERNOR JOHN C. WALTON 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 697 


most part reorganized, many of the members of the different faculties being 
removed or forced to resign, among them the presidents of both the Univer- 
sity and the Agricultural College. At the same time, much criticism was 
caused by the Governor’s free use of his power to pardon and parole convicts 
in the penitentiary and the jails. Then a majority of the members of his own 
party in the State Senate met in Oklahoma City and, after due consideration 
of the matter, addressed a letter to him, urging that he be more careful in his 
official course. A few days later, without offering any explanation, he sud- 
denly replaced some of his appointees on the governing board of the Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical College, with the result that the newly appointed presi- 
dent of that institution was discharged. 

In some parts of the State, especially in the vicinity of the oil fields, there 
was much lawlessness. Officers of the law in some instances made little 
effort to enforce the laws. Conditions became intolerable. In some cases, 
flagrant law violaters were taken out and whipped by bands of citizens who 
were disguised. It was charged that all of these self-appointed agents of 
order and decency were members of the secret society known as the Ku Klux 
Klan. Governor Walton warned sheriffs and county attorneys of several 
counties that such acts were as lawless as those which they were trying to 
punish. Finally, he issued a proclamation placing Okmulgee County under 
martial law, National Guard troops being ordered to that county to relieve 
the civil officers and to preserve order. Later Tulsa County was placed under 
martial law, it being charged that a state of insurrection existed, though the 
civil officers of the county had made no complaint of their inability to enforce 
the laws. Finally, martial law was extended over the whole State, though it 
was only put in force in a few places. 

The Governor continued his drastic actions still further. In Oklahoma 
City, a grand jury, which had been ordered for the purpose of considering 
the lawfulness of the actions of some of the Governor’s appointees, was for- 
bidden to convene. The right of the writ of habeas corpus, guaranteed by 
both Federal and State constitutions, was declared suspended. So he was 
regarded as taking advantage of his position to increase his authority. It was 
proposed that the Legislature should be assembled on its own initiative for 
the purpose of investigating the Governor’s official acts. There was doubt 
as to whether it had a constitutional right to do so unless called by the 
Governor. 

The House of Representatives did attempt to convene but was dispersed 
by order of a National Guard officer, acting under orders of the Governor. 
A special election had been called for October 2, 1923, to adopt or reject sev- 
eral referendum measures which had been submitted by the Legislature. 
Another measure had been initiated for the purpose of conferring upon the 
Legislature the right to convene upon call of a certain number of its own 
members, instead of waiting to be called by the Governor. This was also 
to be voted upon, October 2, but the Governor and his appointees were 
opposed to the last-named measure and attempted to call off the election alto- 
gether. There was much excitement and popular sentiment was strongly 
opposed to the Governor’s course. The election was held in spite of his efforts 


698 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


against it. The initiated measure granting the Legislature the right to call 
itself received an overwhelming majority of the votes cast. A day or two 
later, a call was issued for the House of Representatives to meet in two 
weeks. Then the Governor issued a call for both houses to meet in a week, 
for the purpose of passing an anti-Ku Klux.Klan law. 

The Legislature met on the date set by the Governor, but the House of 
Representatives promptly began to investigate the official actions of the Gov- 
ernor. Asa result of its investigations, impeachment proceedings were insti- 
tuted, formal charges being filed with the State Senate, as provided by the 
Constitution. The Governor was suspended and Lieutenant-Governor Martin 
Edward Trapp became acting governor. 

Governor Walton was tried by the State Senate, sitting as an impeach- 
ment court with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State presid- 
ing. On Monday, November 19, 1923, Governor Walton was convicted on 
eleven of the sixteen charges upon which he had been tried and was declared 
to have forfeited his office as Governor of Oklahoma. 


The North Canadian Flood of 1923—The most disastrous flood in the 
valley of the North Canadian River since the settlement of Oklahoma, occur- 
red during the first week in October, 1923. The flood was the result of tor- 
rential rainstorms in the upper reaches of the Canadian River and its tribu- 
taries, especially Kiowa Creek in Beaver County and Wolf Creek in Wood- 
ward and Ellis counties and the Texas Panhandle. Estimated destruction 
of property was in excess of one hundred million dollars. Great interest was 
aroused in the subject of flood prevention. The special session of the Legis- 
lature which followed, enacted a law providing for the creation of a conserva- 
tion department with a commissioner in charge. The Tenth Legislature 
amended the law by replacing the commissioner with a commission of three 
members; the law was still further amended by the Eleventh Legislature 
in 1927. There has been much agitation concerning the development of a 
storage reservoir system and the conservation of surplus storm-water for 
useful purposes. A survey of the drainage area of the North Canadian, as 
well as those of several other streams in the State, was made under the direc- 
tion of the newly created department. More recently the United States 
Government has likewise been doing some preliminary surveying in the same 
areas. 


Governor Trapp’s Administration—When the Senate voted to impeach 
Governor Walton and removed him from office, Lieutenant Governor Trapp 
automatically became Governor.? The Ninth Legislature was already in extra 
session and so continued for many weeks, following this change. The House 


7. Martin Edwin Trapp was born at Robinson, Kansas, April 19, 1877; moved to Okla- 
homa with his parents, in 1889; educated in the public schools and Capital City Business 
College at Guthrie. He taught school for several years and, in 1904, he was elected county 
clerk of Logan County, serving until 1907, when he was elected State Auditor, serving until 
1911. In 1912 he was admitted to the bar. He was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Okla- 
homa in 1914 and reélected in 1918 and 1922. He became Acting Governor of Oklahoma 
when Governor Walton was tried under impeachment charges and, following the conviction 
and removal of the latter, he succeeded to the office of Governor, November 19, 1923, in 
which capacity he served until the end of the term, in January, 1927. His home is in Okla- 
homa City and his business is that of a dealer in municipal securities. 


GOVERNOR MARTIN ED. TRAPP 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 699 


of Representatives had been re-organized at the beginning of the session, 
electing a new speaker and other officers. A number of measures, which had 
been passed at the instance of Governor Walton, were repealed or modified. 


The State Highway Department—Down to the beginning of the Trapp 
administration the highway department had always been under the direct 
administrative supervision of the commissioner, and, without exception, all 
persons hitherto selected to fill that position had been personal political 
appointees of the Governor. Governor Trapp recommended that this law be 
changed in such way as to place the administration of the affairs of this 
department under a commission of three members instead of a single commis- 
sioner. When the desired legislation had been enacted into a law, he selected 
as the first state highway commission, three prominent business men of the 
State, namely, Cyrus S. Avery, of Tulsa; F. J. Gentry, of Enid, and Roy M. 
Johnson, of Ardmore, the latter being the Republican member of the board. 
The new Highway Commission met and organized and immediately began 
to reorganize and systematize the work of the department as it had never been 
done before. The construction of modern hard-surfaced highways was speeded 
up very materially and many unsurfaced highways were put under constant 
care and supervision, in order that they might be maintained in the best pos- 
sible condition. 


The Political Campaign of 1924—At the beginning of the political cam- 
paign of 1924, Senator Robert L. Owen announced that he would not be a 
candidate for reélection. This announcement immediately resulted in the 
development of a number of other candidates for the place. The friends and 
supporters of former Governor Walton were inclined to feel, with him, that 
he was entitled to a “vindication” as a result of his impeachment and removal 
from office. He, therefore, announced his candidacy for the United States 
Senate. There were four other aspirants for the nomination, thus cutting the 
vote up until it was almost certain to result in a minority nomination. Walton 
received a total of 62,247 out of a total of over 210,000 Democratic votes, 
which was 4,000 more than his nearest competitor. There were six candi- 
dates for the Republican nomination. Republican interest was not nearly so 
keen as that which was manifested in the Democratic party, as the Repub- 
lican primary vote was very low in comparison. William B. Pine,’ of Okmul- 
gee, was nominated by a vote of nearly two to one over his nearest competitor. 

The opposition to the election of former Governor Walton to the United 
States Senate was not limited to Republican voters. Many of the most out- 
standing Democratic leaders of the State refused to be bound by his nomina- 
tion. On his part, he put on a very enthusiastic campaign not unlike the one 
which resulted in his election as governor two years before. Popular inter- 
est in the election of the United States senator went to a high pitch; while 


8. William B. Pine was born at Bluffs, Illinois, December 30, 1877, and was educated in 
the public schools. He settled in Oklahoma in 1904, engaging in the oil business on his 
own account. In more recent years he has been interested in banking, manufacturing, and 
other business lines as well. In his election to the United States Senate, in 1924, on the 
Republican ticket, he received the largest vote ever accorded to any candidate of the State 
down to that time. His home is at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, 


700 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Walton’s opponent, Mr. Pine, was a successful business man, he was not so 
well known, but he made a very vigorous campaign. The result of this elec- 
tion was astonishing, Pine receiving 312,000 votes to 181,000 for Walton, a 
plurality of over 131,000 votes. 


The Eleventh Legislature—The session of the Eleventh Legislature was 
comparatively uneventful. Numerous local bills were being considered, most 
of which were subjct to favorable action. Two measures of public interest 
were passed which were the occasion of considerable criticism and unfavor- 
able comment. One of these was the Revokable Permit Act which virtually 
removed from the municipal councils or commissions the right of action on 
petitions or requests for the renewal of franchises for public service corpora- 
tions, that power being transferred to the State Corporation Commission. 
The other act which was the occasion of considerable criticism was the repeal 
of the law which required that all goods manufactured by convict labor should 
be so labelled. A State Forest Commission was created providing for the 
selection of a trained forester as secretary and executive officer. The duties 
of the commission were to codperate with the owners of farm lands and to 
aid in the creation of an intelligent public opinion concerning forest conser- 
vation, forest extension, and silviculture. A new State flag was also adopted.® 

Interest in the political campaign of 1926 began more than a year before 
the general election, the talk centering upon the nomination for governor and 
for United States senator. When Governor Trapp succeeded to the gover- 
norship, after the impeachment and removal of Governor Walton, he did not 
take an oath as governor but served as governor by virtue of his previous 
obligation which he assumed when he was inaugurated as Lieutenant-Governor. 
As the new campaign developed it became noised around that Governor Trapp 
merely regarded himself as acting governor instead of as governor in fact 
and that, consequently he regarded himself as eligible to nomination and 
election as Governor of the State, regardless of the fact that the State Con- 
stitution expressly prohibited any governor from serving two consecutive 
terms in that office. Another candidate who was prominently mentioned from 
the first, was Henry M. Johnston, of Noble County, who was a member of 
the State Senate during the First Legislature and who was president pro 
tempore of the Senate in that memorable session. He had also served as a 
delegate in the Constitutional Convention. He had been prominent in frater- 
nal affairs, had a wide acquaintance throughout the State and was generally 
regarded as the candidate favored by the members of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Governor Trapp’s ambition to secure the nomination was brought to the 
official attention of the State Supreme Court which ruled that he had been 
governor in fact and he therefore, was not eligible to nomination and election 
for the ensuing term, because of the Constitutional provision which prohi- 
bited any body serving as governor one term in immediate succession to 
another. There were three other aspirants for the Democratic nomination. 
A pre-primary campaign was very warmly contested. The result was that 
Senator Johnston led his closest opponent by a plurality of 14,000 votes. On 


9. Description of the Oklahoma State Flag will be found in Appendix L-3. 


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GOVERNOR HENRY S. JOHNSTO 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 701 


the Republican side there were three candidates for the nomination, Omer 
K. Benedict, of Tulsa, winning the nomination by a fair plurality over his 
nearest rival. Senator Harreld was renominated by the Republicans, while 
the Democrats named former Congressman Elmer Thomas, of Lawton, as 
their candidate.1° 

The vote on the Democratic nomination for Attorney-General was very 
nearly evenly divided between the two high men, with practically all reports 
during the first two or three days following the primary showing a slight 
lead in favor of O. H. Searcy over Edwin Dabney, while the State Election 
Board reported that the official figures showed the nomination for Dabney 
by a slight plurality. Searcy endeavored to secure a recount but was not 
successful. Again there was much criticism of the primary law, in conse- 
quence of this incident.1! 


Governor Johnston’s Administration—When Governor Johnston!? was 
inaugurated, he made no secret of the fact that he wished to reorganize some 
of the departments of the State Government, especially the State Highway 
Department, presumably for the reason that members of the commission had 
not supported his candidacy for the nomination. He therefore asked the Leg- 
islature to revise the law, changing the number of members of the commis- 
sion from three to five, which was done, thus ending at once the terms of 
the two commissioners who would have otherwise held over. 

Governor Johnston’s course in other matters caused much surprise. He 
demanded the reéstablishment of the position of confidential advisor to the 


10. Elmer Thomas was born at Greencastle, Indiana, September 8, 1876. He graduated 
from the Central Normal College, Danville, Illinois, 1897, and received his A. B. degree 
from De Pauw University, in 1900. He was admitted to the bar in Indiana, in 1897, coming to 
Oklahoma in 1900, locating at Oklahoma City, and settling at Lawton when that town was 
founded a year later, in 1901, practicing law at Lawton until 1911. He is also the owner 
and operator of Medicine Park, Oklahoma. He served continuously in the Oklahoma State 
Senate from 1907 to 1920, and was president pro tempore of that body from 1910 to 1913; 
was chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1910; Democratic nominee for Con- 
gress from the 6th Oklahoma District in 1924, and was elected to the United States Senate 
for the term extending from 1927 to 1938, inclusive. His home is in Medicine Park. 


11. Oklahoma City Times, August 10, 1926. 


12. Henry S. Johnston was born in Evansville, Indiana, in 1870; was educated in the 
public schools. He studied law and was admitted to the bar at Denver, Colorado, in Decem- 
ber, 1891. He practiced law there until September, 1893, when he settled in Perry, Okla- 
homa. He was elected a member of the Territorial Legislative Council in 1896. He subse- 
quently served two terms as county attorney of Noble County; in 1906 he was elected a 
delegate to the State Constitutional Convention. When the Democratic members of that 
body organized a caucus, he was elected as its chairman and, acting in that capacity, it 
was his privilege to call the convention to order and preside during its organization ses- 
sion. He took an active part in the deliberations of the convention. In the first State elec- 
tion which was held at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, he was elected a 
member of the State Senate for the district consisting of Noble and Pawnee counties. In 
the organization of the State Senate in December, he was elected president pro tempore of 
that body and, because of the physical indisposition of the Lieutenant-Governor, he pre- 
sided over most of its meetings in the five months’ session which followed. His term as 
Senator being a short one, he was nominated for Congress in opposition to Bird S. McGuire, 
in the one Republican district, in 1908. Subsequently he was again nominated as the Demo- 
cratic candidate in the Eighth District, which was also the one safely Republican district 
after the reapportionment following the thirteenth census. He was elected as a delegate 
to the Democratic National Convention in 1912 and in 1924, but did not attend the one last 
mentioned. He has been distinguished as a fraternalist and served one term as Grand 
Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, After leaving the Governor’s office he 
resumed the practice of law at Perry. After the close of his official career as Governor of 
Oklahoma, Governor and Mrs. Johnston were tendered a public reception by the people of 
Perry and Noble counties, which served to attest the esteem in which they were held by 
the folks who had known them longest and best. 


702 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


governor, a place which had existed only during the brief Walton adminis- 
tration. He suddenly and without explanation broke with the man who had 
been recognized as his closest and most influential advisor during the cam- 
paign. Before the end of the legislative session, there was much dissatisfac- 
tion among legislators and party leaders. Some of his best friends in the 
Senate made an unsuccessful effort to avert disaster by proposing to force 
the retirement of the confidential advisor. They were prompted by the belief 
that he was being misled by harmful influence that used this position as a 
medium of approach. 

The new Highway Commission never succeeded in gaining the confidence 
which had been given to the one which it replaced. Dissatisfaction increased 
until, in the autumn of 1927, there was much talk of a special session of the 
Legislature. Finally, four members of the House of Representatives, who 
became known as the “four horsemen,” led in calling the members of the 
Legislature into special session under the provisions of the initiated meas- 
ure, “No. 79,” which had been adopted by popular vote, on October 2, 1923, 
whereby the Legislature was granted the right to convene on its own motion. 
However, the day before the date for the Legislature to convene, the Supreme 
Court ruled that the initiated measure, “No. 79,” was unconstitutional. 

The legislators met in defiance of the Supreme Court and proceeded to 
name a committee which began its work of investigating the departments of 
the State Government. Thereupon, early one morning, the National Guard, 
under orders of Governor Johnston, took its position at the Capitol and pre- 
vented the legislators from meeting in the building. The legislators then 
proceeded to hold sessions in a down-town hotel. The investigating com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives drew up and presented five articles 
of impeachment against Governor Johnston to the State Senate. The Senate 
was sitting as a court of impeachment without being called by Governor 
Johnston. It suddenly voted to refuse to consider the charges drawn up by 
the members of the House and adjourned, thus ending the attempted special 
session of the Eleventh Legislature. 

By the beginning of the presidential campaign in 1928, Governor John- 
ston had many bitter political enemies. The people of Oklahoma took keen 
interest in the presidential campaign, the results of the election showing that 
an unprecedented majority of more than 170,000 had cast Oklahoma’s elec- 
toral vote for Herbert S. Hoover, the Republican nominee, for President of 
the United States. The final count of the election also showed that forty- 
seven Republicans and fifty-seven Democrats had been elected to the House 
of Representatives in the State Legislature. These results indicated that 
Governor Johnston had a hard fight before him when the Twelfth Legislature 
should convene. 

The Twelfth Legislature began its session with Governor Johnston’s 
friends nominally in control. However, nine of the Democratic House mem- 
bers were opposed to Governor Johnston and these pledged themselves to vote 
with the Republicans for an investigation. These nine “irreconcilables” did 
vote with the forty-seven Republicans in reorganizing the House the second 
day. A committee to investigate the State Government was appointed. As 


q os 


GOVERNOR WILLIAM J. HOLLOWAY 


Photo by Watton Studio. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 703 


a result of the investigation ten articles of impeachment were presented 
against Governor Johnston. 

The State Senate was resolved into a court of impeachment and the House 
charges were accepted. Governor Johnston was suspended from office on 
January 21, and William J. Holloway, Lieutenant-Governor, became acting 
Governor during the impeachment trial which began on February 6 and lasted 
six weeks. During the trial, Governor Johnston took the stand in his own 
defense, and those who were prosecuting him failed to break down his testi- 
mony. At last on March 20, the trial ended with the Senate voting to 
impeach Governor Johnston on the charge of general incompetency in office. 
Immediately, William J. Holloway took the oath of office as the eighth gover- 
nor of Oklahoma. 


Governor Holloway’s Administration—With the regular session of the 
Twelfth Legislature already in session when he assumed the duties and 
responsibilities of the executive office, Governor Holloway1!® found much to 
occupy his immediate attention. He was fortunate in that, previous to his 
election as Lieutenant-Governor, he had served eight years in the State Senate, 
so he had a thorough acquaintance with the affairs of the State. Without any 
ostentation or the exercise of any formalities, he immediately addressed him- 
self to the task with which he was confronted. He made comparatively few 
changes in the matter of subordinate appointments and none without justi- 
fication. One of his first objectives was the reorganization of the Highway 
Department on a more efficient basis. At his instance, the law was so modi- 
fied as to reéstablish the three-member Highway Commission and, having 
done this, he named as its chairman, Lew Wentz, well known as a success- 
ful oil operator and as a Republican leader, thus placing the department upon 
a non-partizan basis. The other commissioners—Messrs. S. C. Boswell, of 
Durant, and L. C. Hutson, of Chickasha—were likewise well known business 
men of outstanding ability. No one of the three was an office seeker, neither 
did any of them care to enter the public service, which necessarily interfered 
with their own personal affairs to a greater or less extent. But each agreed 


13. William Judson Holloway was born December 15, 1888, at Arkadelphia, Arkansas. 
His parents were Rev. Stephen Lee Holloway, a Baptist minister, and Mrs. Mollie Horne 
Holloway, both of whom were of American descent for several generations back. He was 
educated in the public schools of Arkansas and Ouachita College at Arkadelphia. After 
four years in college he received his bachelor’s degree in 1910. He attended one summer 
session of the University of Chicago, in 1911. After graduating from Ouachita College he 
became principal of a ward school at Hugo, Oklahoma, during the years 1910 and 1911, 
and during the ensuing three years he was principal of the Hugo High School. He then 
matriculated in the law school of Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, from 
which he graduated in 1915, following which he returned to Hugo, where he began the 
practice of law, after being admitted to the bar in the Oklahoma courts, in September, 1915. 
In 1916 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Choctaw county. After one term in that 
office he retired to private practice. In 1920, he was nominated and elected to the State 
Senate as a Democrat and, in 1924, was reélected to the same place. In the legislative 
session of 1925 he was elected president pro tempore of the Senate, and as such was Acting 
Lieutenant-Governor from 1925 to 1927. In 1926, he was the Democratic nominee for 
Lieutenant-Governor and was elected to this office, his term beginning January 10, 1927. 
He was in the military service for a brief season, just before the end of the World War, 
as a student officer at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky. He became Governor 
of Oklahoma March 20, 1929, upon the impeachment of Governor Henry S. Johnston. Gov- 
ernor Holloway’s chief interests as a legislator pertained to public education and he 
served as chairman of the Committee on Education while in the State Senate. He was also 
very active in legislation affecting the State highway development. He was married to 
Miss Amy Arnold, Texarkana, Arkansas, June 10, 1917. 


704 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


to accept such an appointment because Governor Holloway insisted that 
experienced business men rather than mere politicians were needed to 
promptly and efficiently attend to the State’s biggest business for the time 
being. 

The sessions of the Twelfth Legislature, regular and special, are too recent 
to warrant an attempt for a thoroughly dispassionate and unbiased attempt 
to record the same. Suffice it to say that, in several respects it resembled 
those of the Eighth Legislature, the utter lack of harmony and cooperation 
between the two houses being painfully apparent. In addition to the charges 
of impeachment against the Governor by the House, which were confirmed 
by the action of the Senate, similar impeachment charges were also voted 
against two members of the Supreme Court, but in neither instance were 
these seriously considered by the majority of the Senate membership. The 
two sessions, regular and special, extended over a period of approximately 
six months—the longest practically continuous assemblage of a legislative 
body in the history of the State, and also the most expensive. Whether the 
combined length of the two sessions, or the cost of the same, was fully justi- 
fied, only time can tell. It is doubtful, in the light of public sentiment, whether 
“any political reputation or prestige in either branch of the Legislature was 
enhanced as the result of these long continued sessions. 

The Legislature refused to submit to a vote of the people a proposition 
for the issuance of bonds of the State, to speed up highway construction, 
though of course it is by no means certain that the people would have ratified 
such a proposition, even if it had been submitted to them for approval. 
Another matter of more than passing interest, was the enactment of a “run- 
off” primary law, whereby there shall be no more minority nominations. 
Had such a “run-off” primary been in operation ever since the State was 
admitted to the Union, its history might have been materially different from 
what it has been thus far. This safeguard is expensive, but unless some- 
thing equally as efficacious and less costly can be evolved, it will abundantly 
justify the added expense. 

Few people in Oklahoma realize the extent to which legislation that is only 
local in its application and effect, and which is of no interest or concern to the 
people of the State as a whole, has grown. In the First Legislature, approxi- 
mately ten per cent. of the measures passed and approved were local bills. 
During the administrations of Governors Cruce and Williams, the number of 
bills, passed and approved, which could be classed as local rather than State- 
wide in their application and effect, was kept low. Beginning with the 7th 
Legislature, however, the time and attention occupied in the consideration 
of local legislation, to say nothing of its effect on legislation of State-wide 
import, has assumed the proportion of a positive abuse. There were espe- 
cially heavy increases in the number of local bills which were passed and 
approved in the sessions of 1923 and 1927, while the maximum was reached | 
in the session of 1929, when more than forty-four per cent. of all the new laws 
which were placed on the statute book were of a class that could not have 
even found a place on the legislative calendar of several of the neighboring 
states. Each of these pertain to the affairs of counties and townships, to those 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 705 


of cities, towns, villages and school districts. In the vast majority of such 
instances, they relate to matters which should have been left to adjustment by 
county or municipal officials, possibly with the aid of the courts—they cer- 
tainly have no rightful claim upon the time and consideration of the Legisla- 
ture of the whole States. The constant tinkering with the salaries and pay 
rolls of individual counties has been especially demoralizing in its effect. The 
will and financial ability of the taxpayers as well as the judgment of the boards 
of county commissioners have alike been ignored. How much strategic capi- 
tal they may have furnished for legislative trades, is not a matter of record, 
though it must be admitted that the system has its corrupting possibilities. 
The growth of this abuse has been so gradual that even the most thoughtful 
and conscientious legislators have not realized the baneful extent to which it is 
leading. The Legislature of the State of Oklahoma has, or should have, more 
important business in hand than those which, strictly speaking, should be left 
entirely for local consideration and adjustment. 


Okla—45 


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CHAPTER LI 


MEDICINE AND SURGERY IN OKLAHOMA 


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CHAPTER LI. 
MEDICINE AND SURGERY IN OKLAHOMA. 


The first doctors of medicine in what is now Oklahoma, of whom there is 
any record, were those which were connected with exploring expeditions or 
attached to the Medical Department of the Army. A medical officer was 
included in the military forces stationed at Fort Smith, on the eastern border, 
from the date of its establishment, in 1817, until after the establishment of 
other military posts, in the interior of the Indian Territory. In 1820, the 
exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, which was commanded by 
Major Stephen H. Long, passed across the present Oklahoma in two divisions, 
one of which, under his personal command, came eastward through the cen- 
tral part, following the course of the Canadian River, while the other, com- 
manded by Captain John R. Bell, descended the valley of the Arkansas, from 
Colorado through Kansas. This expedition had set forth with two physicians, 
but one had sickened and died early in the westward journey. The other, Dr. 
Edwin James, made the return march across the plains with Captain Bell’s 
detachment. Mr. Thomas Say, the naturalist, who accompanied the party that 
came down the Canadian, was skilled in the knowledge of medicine, though 
whether he had a doctor’s degree is not known. In addition to their profes- 
sional services, medical officers on Government exploring expeditions quite 
generally acted as biologists and geologists, making collections for herbariums, 
museums and laboratories, and contributing materially to scientific knowledge. 

With the establishment of the earliest mission stations in the Indian Ter- 
ritory, there came a few medical missionaries, who were not less devoted in 
their service than the ordained ministers, teachers and instructors in the 
mechanical, agricultural and the domestic arts. Each of these soon found that 
his practice must spread far beyond the bounds of the community in which 
the mission was located. At that time, no physicians or surgeons were fur- 
nished by the Government for duty with the Indian agencies. Hence, the 
first knowledge and acquaintance with white physicians and their service 
among many of the Indian people, came through the medium of the mission 
stations. 

With the establishment of Forts Gibson, Towson, Washita and Arbuckle, 
each garrison was accompanied by one or more medical officers. The names 
of these are not known locally, though doubtless a careful search of official 
records would disclose them all. One medical officer, whose first assignment 
to duty was at Fort Washita, and who was the first surgeon to be stationed 
at Fort Arbuckle, was Dr. Rodney Glisan, whose book, “A Journal of Army 
Life,” was published many years afterward, depicting the story of that service. 

Medical officers on duty with frontier military posts, like physicians 
attached to mission stations, were wont to extend their helpful and sympa- 
thetic ministrations far beyond the limits of the garrisons to which they 


710 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


belonged, especially as these were located in sparsely settled regions where 
there was an utter lack of competent medical talent. 

Among the medical missionaries who first came to the Indian Territory 
there might be mentioned Doctors Elizur Butler, Marcus Palmer and Roderick 
Dodge, among the Cherokees; Alfred Wright, among the Choctaws, and 
George L. Weed, among the Creeks. Doctor Butler will be remembered as 
the man who, before coming to the Indian Territory, with Rev. Samuel A. 
Worcester, suffered imprisonment in the Georgia Penitentiary because of his 
devotion to the persecuted Cherokees. He was eventually ordained to the 
ministry. Rev. Alfred Wright, while primarily a clergyman, also practiced 
medicine. Being the only physician in his part of the country, his practice 
was very large, especially in sickly seasons and during epidemic outbreaks, 
when he often made as many as fifteen to twenty professional calls in a day. 
Yet, despite this, he acted as superintendent of the Wheelock and Norwalk 
missions and, with the aid of his good wife, found time to translate the New 
Testament and sixty books, pamphlets and tracts into the Choctaw language, 
in which they were printed. 

In his annual report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, five years after 
the removal of the Choctaw people to their new country in the West, Agent 
William Armstrong made the following recommendation: 


I would respectfully suggest that the Government could render these unfortunate people 
some medical aid, either from the forts or from any other quarter and, by furnishing medicines, 
&c. It would be an act of humanity and would go farther to convince them of its humane and 
philanthropic intention than the funds expended in endeavoring to educate them. While thou- 
sands are lavished to teach them to live, and love our modes of living, they are suffered to be 
swept off by hundreds in a settlement, without the hand of charity being extended towards their 
preservation.1 


The logical result of the condition arising from such a lack of medical 
service was the appearance and settlement of unlicensed practitioners, at 
various places in the Indian Territory. True, some of these had served a sort 
of an apprenticeship when they had “read medicine” for a time, in the office of 
some reputable physician, “back in the states.” Others, however, were the 
veriest quacks, who not only had no knowledge of the sciences upon which the 
medical and surgical arts were founded, but their success in such an avoca- 
tion depended almost entirely upon the facility with which they could impose 
upon the credulity of their patients and patrons. 

In Isaac McCoy’s “Annual Register Within the Indian (or Western) Ter- 
ritory,’ for 1837, makes mention of Dr. John Thornton, a Cherokee, who had 
been educated in the United States. A year later, the statement is made that 
there was “one regular physician and, unfortunately several steam doctors.” 
Other young men of the Five Civilized Tribes occasionally left the Territory 
to go east for the purpose of pursuing thorough courses in medicine and sur- 
gery. One of these was Walter Thompson Adair, who was born in Georgia, 
shortly before his people moved to their new country in the West and who, 


1. “Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,’ 1837, p. 581. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 711 


after having been educated in the Cherokee national schools and completing 
the course at the Male Seminary, began the study of medicine in the Missouri 
Medical College at St. Louis, in 1855, graduating in 1858. At the outbreak of 
the Civil War, he became the surgeon of Colonel Stand Watie’s Cherokee 
regiment and, eventually was promoted the chief surgeon of the Indian Divi- 
sion, on the staff of General Douglas H. Cooper. A young Choctaw, T. J. 
Bond, by name, was one of the first of his people to go East to study medi- 
cine. Others followed from various tribes. In his first annual report to the 
ene of Indian Affairs, Agent Douglas H. Cooper wrote in part as 
ollows: 


The United States could not confer a greater boon upon the Indians than by holding out 
encouragement in some way for the location of scientific physicians among them. Thousands 
die for want of proper medical advice and medicine.2 


Eventually, a reluctant Congress: made provision for the appointment and 
support of agency physicians. The establishment of additional Indian reser- 
vations and agencies in the western part of the Indian Territory, therefore, 
had the effect of increasing the number of professionally trained physicians 
and surgeons within its limits, as also did the establishment of new military 
posts during the first decade following the close of the Civil War. Moreover, 
the construction of the first railways, in the early ’7os, had the effect of bring- 
ing in several competent railway surgeons who settled in some of the railroad 
towns. A civilian physician who was on duty as an acting assistant surgeon, 
during the beginnings of Fort Sill—Dr. Robert H. McKay, has preserved to 
posterity a faithful depiction of the life and post of that period in a small 
volume entitled “Little Pills.” 

By the terms of an act approved November 24, 1873, the Cherokee National 
Council made provision for the practice of medicine within the limits of that 
nation. This law made provision for the appointment of a board of competent 
examiners and required that all practitioners should take an examination and 
secure a certificate entitling the bearer to secure a physician’s permit from 
the principal chief.2 Provisions for the enforcement of the law were so lax, 
however, that it remained practically a dead letter. 

The Indian Territorial Medical Society was organized at a meeting of 
physicians and surgeons, held at Muskogee, April 18, 1881. Dr. B. F. Fortner, 
of Claremore, was chosen as the first president; Drs. G. W. Cummings, of 
Muskogee, and Felix McNair, of Locust Grove, as vice-presidents; Dr. M. F. 
Williams, of Muskogee, was elected as secretary, with Dr. R. B. Howard, of 
Fort Gibson, as treasurer. This organization was practically continuous for 
twenty-five years, though some apparent inactivity caused it to be reorganized, 
in 1889, with the reélection of Doctor Fortner for a second term. 

In the autumn of 1884, Dr. E. N. Wright, who had graduated from the 
Albany (N. Y.) Medical College but a few months before, persuaded Governor 
Edmund McCurtain and the Choctaw National Council to pass a law for the 


2. Ibid., 1853, pp. 155-68. 
3. “Laws of the Cherokee Nation” (1892), p. 366. 


ya OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


regulation of the practice of medicine in that nation. As in the Cherokee 
Nation, a competent board of examiners was to be appointed, with the expec- 
tation that the quack doctors would be speedily weeded out; years passed 
before the law could be fully enforced, though it was a long step in the right 
direction. Governor McCurtain appointed Dr. E. N. Wright, Dr. L. C. 
Tennant and Dr. Kendrick as examiners. As many of the practitioners 
would not meet this board of examiners at appointed times and places, the 
members of the board, like “Mahomet going to the mountain,” had to take 
their examinations to the unwilling practitioners. The ignorance discovered 
in the course of this organized effort to regulate the practice of medicine 
within the limits of the Choctaw Nation was appalling. A few one- and two- 
course students were found practicing, but the great majority of the practi- 
tioners had never even seen a medical school. A few of these agreed to quit, 
but most of them merely moved—to other parts of the Indian Territory, out- 
side the limits of the Choctaw Nation. Some of them evidently returned, 
later, however, as Choctaw authorities had trouble with quack doctors, off and 
on, for a decade and a half afterward. 

When the Oklahoma country was opened to homestead settlement, in 1880, 
several physicians who had located in the newly-established communities 
became affiliated with the Indian Territory Medical Society and a few of them 
maintained membership therein and occasionally attended its meetings until 
a similar organization was effected in Oklahoma Territory. At that time, the 
Indian Territory Medical Society held meetings four times each year, such 
gatherings convening in the various towns of the Territory. In the meeting 
which was held at Vinita, October 10, 1889, two Oklahoma physicians were 
present. Among the papers which were presented at that session was one by 
Dr. James R. Brewer, of Muskogee, entitled “Legal Homicide,” in which, as 
reported by the Vinita chieftain: 


He called attention to the great damage to state and society by the unrestrained ravages of 
uneducated and unqualified practitioners of medicine, especially in the Indian Territory. 


Progress was being made, however. In 1891, it was reported that the total 
number of professionally trained and educated physicians in the Indian Terri- 
tory was seventy-five. 

The Oklahoma Territorial Medical Society was organized at Oklahoma 
City, May 9, 1893. Dr. Delos Walker was elected as the first president; vice- 
president, Dr. O. E. Barker, of Guthrie; secretary, Dr. C. D. Arnold, of El 
Reno; treasurer, Dr. E. J. Trader, of Council Grove. The Committee on 
Constitution and By-Laws reported a recommendation that the Constitution 
and By-Laws of the Indian Territory Medical Society be adopted with a few 
slight changes and the report was accepted. Thirty-four physicians were 
present, which was but little more than ten per cent. of the total number of 
physicians then practicing in Oklahoma Territory. Fortunately, the new ter- 
ritory did not have to contend with quacks and uneducated practitioners, as 
had been the necessity in the Indian Territory, since the First Territorial Leg- 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 713 


islative Assembly has enacted a law with provisions for the regulation of the 
practice of medicine in 1890.4 

By the terms of an act of Congress approved April 23, 1904, the practice of 
medicine by any person other than registered physicians and surgeons was 
forbidden in the Indian Territory, with suitable penalties for violation. It was 
provided that the judge of each court district should appoint a board of three 
reputable physicians and surgeons to examine the qualifications of applicants 
for permission to practice medicine in the Indian Territory. The enforcement 
of this law effectually terminated the operations of quack practitioners after 
more or less unavailing efforts had been made to that end, throughout a period 
of more than thirty years.5 

In the course of his address before the annual meeting of the Indian Ter- 
ritory Medical Society, as its president, in 1904, Dr. E. N. Wright, who has 
already been mentioned as one of the original board of examiners in the 
Choctaw Nation, took occasion to urge that that society and the Oklahoma 
Territorial Medical Society should be merged into one organization to be 
known as the Oklahoma State Medical Association. The appointment of a 
committee to consider the suggestion was authorized. The report of this 
committee was favorable. Similar action was taken by the Oklahoma Terri- 
torial Society, both acting upon the proposition in the annual meetings of 1905. 
This union of the two societies was completed in the meeting held at Okla- 
homa City, in May, 1906—several weeks before the passage of the Congres- 
sional act which made possible the uniting of the two territories in the organi- 
zation and for its admission into the Federal Union as a single State. At this 
first meeting of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, Dr. B. F. Fortner, 
who was one of the organizers and who was elected as the first president of 
the Indian Territory Medical Society, twenty-five years before, was chosen 
as the first president of the State association, while Dr. E. O. Barker, who 
had been the first vice-president of the Oklahoma Territorial Medical Society, 
was elected as the first secretary of the State Association. 


Medical Education—The establishment of a medical school in Oklahoma 
City was proposed as early as 1901. As there was some question concerning 
the professional standing of the principal projector, however, conservative 
members of the profession held aloof from the proposition, so it was finally 
abandoned. In 1906, a medical school was organized in connection with 
Epworth University, a Methodist institution then in operation in Oklahoma 
City. It was operated for three years, but was abandoned when the School 
of Medicine of the University of Oklahoma was organized, in 1909. The 
latter has now (1929) been in operation for twenty years and is accorded an 
A-rating in the classification of American medical schools, as to its organiza- 
tion, support, equipment, required standards, etc. It was formerly conducted 
at the seat of the University, at Norman, but it is now housed in its own 
new building, erected and furnished with modern equipment as complete and 


4, “Statutes of Oklahoma” (1893), p. 123. 
5. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. 33, p. 299. 


714 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


up-to-date as that of any institution of its class anywhere else. It is located 
in Oklahoma City and a large hospital with modern equipment is operated in 
conjunction. 


Publications—The Oklahoma Medical Journal issued its initial number in 
January, 1893, at Guthrie, under private auspices. During the ensuing fif- 
teen years, it experienced a number of changes in editorial and publication 
management, location of publication office, etc. In 1908, the Oklahoma State 
Medical Association put out its first official issue, since which time it has 
been regularly published, with the secretary of the association as its managing 
editor. 


State Board of Health—The State of Oklahoma has a well organized Board 
of Health, with the secretary as its active executive director. County and 
municipal health officers are also maintained throughout the State. 


Hospitals—Oklahoma is well supplied with hospitals, Federal, State, munici- 
pal, denominational and private. All of these fall within the scope of public 
inspection and oversight. The Federal Government maintains a large hospital 
(originally built as a memorial by the State) for disabled soldiers of the 
World War, at Muskogee. It also maintains a hospital for Indians, at the 
Fort Sill sub-agency, near Lawton. The State maintains the University 
Medical School Hospital (already mentioned) and the Hospital for Crippled 
Children, both at Oklahoma City; also, the Tubercular Sanatorium for Sol- 
diers, at Sulphur, and two similar institutions for tubercular patients, located 
respectively at Clinton and Talihina. In addition to these, there are three 
hospitals for the insane, located, respectively, at Norman, Supply and Vinita. 

Several of the religious denominations have hospitals, which are located in 
the principal cities and towns of the State. Private hospitals are numerous 
and are to be found in practically all of the important population centers. 


CEO QR 


CHAPTER LII 
-THE BENCH AND BAR OF OKLAHOMA 
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CHAPTER LII. 
THE BENCH AND BAR OF OKLAHOMA 


When the governments of the Five Civilized Tribes were instituted and 
organized in the Indian Territory, they were modeled after those of some of 
the states of the Union, with legislative, executive and judicial branches. With 
written statute laws, their courts, court procedure, trials, juries and judiciary 
were much like those which prevailed in the white man’s law courts. Likewise, 
there were not only Indian judges and jurors, but also Indian lawyers. While 
the practice of law before the tribal courts possibly involved fewer intricacies 
and technicalities than those of the states and organized territories, there were 
able attorneys to be found among the Indian people and some of these would 
have held their own in their championship of a cause at the bar of any white 
man’s court. 

As stated elsewhere, all law cases originating in the Indian Territory in 
which white people were involved, and all those in which Indians had been 
charged with the violation of Federal laws as well, had to be taken before a 
Federal court for trial, under the provisions of an act of Congress approved 
June 17, 1844. Until 1883, the United States Court of the Western District of 
Arkansas was clothed with original jurisdiction in all Federal cases from the 
Indian Territory, with the court sessions at Fort Smith.1 By an act of Con- 
gress approved January 6, 1883, all that part of the Indian Territory north of 
the Canadian River and west of the Cherokee, Creek and Seminole nations 
(and including also the reservations attached to the Quapaw Agency) was 
attached to the judicial district of Kansas, with court sessions at Wichita and 
Fort Scott. By the same act, all that part of the Indian Territory south of the 
Canadian River and west of the Chickasaw Nation, was attached to the judicial 
district of Northern Texas, with court sessions at Graham, Texas. This left 
the area owned and occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes still attached to the 
Western District of Arkansas. 

The stories and traditions of Fort Smith and its Federal court and of the 
connections and relations of the same with the people of the Indian Territory, 
would fill a fair-sized volume. The famous “hanging judge” (Hon. Isaac C. 
Parker), who undoubtedly sentenced more convicted criminals to death than 
any other single magistrate in the history of American courts and judiciary; 
the culprits and renegades who were haled before the bar of this noted trib- 
unal; the jurors—some of whom were capable and devoted and some of them 
not only incompetent but indifferent as well—into whose hands was com- 
mitted the determination of the fate of the accused; the throngs of witnesses 
who had been transported thither for long distances, at the instance and 
expense of the prosecution, and the fewer (and more furtive) witnesses, who 


1. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. V, p. 680. 
2. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XXII, p. 400. 


718 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


came, some of them with perjury in their hearts and falsehood on their lips, at 
the instance of resourceful and not always scrupulous defense attorneys; the 
picturesque and sometimes swaggering deputy marshals, at least a few of 
whom were no more worthy than the accused defendants whom they led to the 
bar in manacles and chains; the idly curious public; the gallows and the hang- 
man, the quaint architectural lines of the court building, with its clinging asso- 
ciations and memories of a pretentious frontier military post dating back more 
than a generation—all these united to form a picture which, once seen, could 
never be forgotten. This court was not always infallible, even though its pre- 
siding judge aimed to be fair and just in his rulings, for there were some mis- 
carriages of justice—some in which innocent men were convicted on appear- 
ances or circumstantial evidence and others in which the guilty were cleared 
and went forth free to commit other deeds of violence and, mayhap, in the end, 
to meet a justly deserved fate in a more summary manner. 

While the Federal Court at Fort Smith held jurisdiction over the whole of 
the Indian Territory, a large part of the legal business from that source was 
handled by Fort Smith attorneys and legal firms though, occasionally, lawyers 
from the Kansas border on the north, and from the Texas border on the south, 
appeared in that tribunal to represent clients from the Territory. The division 
of the Indian Territory jurisdiction, whereby portions of its area were assigned 
to the Kansas and Northern Texas districts, had the effect of bringing more 
attorneys from those states into contact with Indian Territory affairs and 
materially lightened the work of the Fort Smith court, though it still had to 
handle the greater part of the Indian Territory cases. A few of the Indian 
lawyers had working agreements with Fort Smith attorneys and legal firms, 
helping to gather evidence and in the preparation of cases for trial. Fewer still 
of the Indian lawyers ever appeared in the Federal courts as practicing attor- 


3. Romance, pathos, tragedy, despair—in fact nearly every phase of human sentiment 
and human fate—seemed to converge amid the scenes in the Federal court at Fort Smith. 
On one occasion, a young Creek Indian had been tried on a charge of murder, found guilty 
and sentenced to death. As the day of his execution drew near, the memories of his earlier 
life came flooding through his mind. In his early youth, he had been a pupil in the industrial 
school which was operated in conjunction with the Tullahassee Mission. In the midst of 
the gloomy and gruesome environments of the Federal jail, with the certainty of his 
impending fate before him, his thoughts turned back to the days when he was a pupil in 
the school at Tullahassee, where Mrs. A. E. W. Robertson had been his teacher. He wrote 
a letter to her, in his own language, for he knew that she could read it and that she 
would sympathize with him. He placed the letter in an envelope and addressed and 
sealed it. But he was penniless—he did not even have three cents with which to purchase 
a postage stamp. Without a stamp, it went to the jailor’s office. The jailor and the 
guards all had other matters to occupy their attention and, besides, their experience in 
life had been such as to make them hard-hearted. Moreover, the condemned man was “only 
a bad Indian,’ who had forfeited all consideration of law-abiding people. The letter 
awaited the attention of some sympathetic soul who would see to it that it was sent to its 
destination. The day set for the execution arrived and the young Indian was led out to 
the gallows, where he paid the price of his crime which was exacted in the name of organ- 
ized and orderly society. The unstamped letter still laid on the desk of the jailor, merely 
a curious memento of a misspent and broken life. One day, more than two years later, a 
casual caller at the jail office picked up the time-soiled missive and made an idle inquiry 
concerning its presence there. The story which followed appealed to his sense of appre- 
ciation of the pathetic. He stamped the letter and mailed it. The great-souled, gentle- 
spirited woman to whom it had been addressed so long before, received and read and 
understood the message which seemed to have come from the dead. In her heart, which 
seemed to encompass the whole of the Creek people, to whose betterment her life had been 
devoted, she mourned for the schoolboy of other days, whose steps had turned into the 
paths of evil, but who had remembered her and her teachings as his life was drawing 
toward its tragic end, 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 719 


neys. There were virtually no white lawyers in the Indian Territory, other 
than the very few who had been adopted as inter-married citizens. 

By the terms of an act of Congress, approved March 1, 1889—only two days 
before the passage of the Indian Appropriation Act with the amendment pro- 
viding for the lands of the Unassigned District to homestead settlement— 
there was created a tribunal to be known as the United States Court of the 
Indian Territory, which was to hold its sessions at Muskogee.* It was to have 
jurisdiction in all offenses against the Federal Government except such as had 
penalties involving capital punishment. All of the Chickasaw Nation and 
three-fourths of the area of the Choctaw Nation were placed in the newly cre- 
ated District of Eastern Texas, with its seat at Paris. 

The appointment of court officials for the newly created District of the 
Indian Territory was among the first matters to receive the attention of the 
new administration of President Benjamin Harrison. General James M. Shack- 
elford,> of Indiana, was appointed as judge of the new court; Zachary T. 
Walrond,® of Kansas, was named as the district attorney ; Thomas B. Needles,’ 
of Illinois, was chosen as the United States marshal of the court. These 
officers promptly repaired to Muskogee and reported for duty. The first term 
of court was set for Tuesday, April 2, 1889—three weeks, lacking a day, before 
the opening of the Oklahoma lands to settlement. There were nineteen attor- 
neys present and seeking the privilege of practicing before the new court. 
The names of these were: Z. T. Walrond, D. Stewart Elliott, Townsend N. 
Foster, Napoleon B. Maxey, Walter A. Ledbetter, S. E. Jackson, Ridge Pas- 
chal, Sampson O. Hinds, Elias C. Boudinot, Preston S. Lester, Joseph G. 
Ralls, Robert L. Owen, J. H. Crichton, W. D. Crawford, G. W. Pasco, S. S. 
Fears, James H. Atkin, D. M. Wisdom and W. C. Jackson. Part of these 
were possessed of credentials which secured their admission without exam- 
ination and some of these were appointed as members of an examining com- 
mittee to pass upon the qualifications of those who did not have certificates or 


4. U. S. Statues at Large, Vol. XXV, pp. 783-88. 


5. James M. Shackelford was born in Kentucky, in 1827. While but a youth in years, 
he served as a lieutenant of Kentucky volunteers during the Mexican War. After his 
return to civil life, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. At the outbreak of the 
Civil War, he was commissioned colonel of the 8th Kentucky Cavalry and was later trans- 
ferred to the colonelcy of the 25th Kentucky Infantry. He resigned from the service in 
January, 1862, and, in March following, was commissioned a brigadier-general of volun- 
teers. In July, 1863, he was in command of the troops which captured General John 
Morgan, the noted Confederate raider, who had crossed the Ohio River into Indiana and 
swept thence eastward, nearly across the state of Ohio. Shortly afterward, General Shack- 
elford was assigned to the command of the 3d Brigade of the 4th (Cavalry) Division of the 
23a Army Corps. Some months later, he was assigned to the command of the division. 
After the close of the war, he settled in Indiana, where he became active and prominent in 
political affairs. He served as judge of the United States Court of the Indian Territory 
from 1889 to 1893. When he retired from that position, he opened a law office at Muskogee, 
where he made his home until his death, in 1909. 

6. Zachary T. Walrond was a citizen of Kansas, where he had been in public life, 
resigning a seat in the State Senate to accept the appointment as United States Attorney 
for the Indian Territory. After the expiration of his term in that office, in 1893, he opened 
an office for the practice of law at Muskogee, which he continued until his death, twenty- 
five years later. 

7. Thomas B. Needles was appointed as the first United States marshal for the new 
Court of the Indian Territory, from Illinois. Same years after the expiration of his term 
in that office, he was appointed a member of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 
serving from 1897 to 1905. 


720 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


credentials. Of the nineteen, three—Elias C. Boudinot, Ridge Paschal and 
Robert L. Owen—were members of the Cherokee tribe of Indians. Boudinot, 
already past the mature years of life, was one of the best known and ablest 
attorneys in the Southwest and had long been practicing before the Federal 
courts. Although a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, he was then a resident of 
Fort Smith. Paschal was a man of mature years, descended from a noted 
Cherokee family on his mother’s side, while his father, a white man, had been 
an eminent jurist. Robert L. Owen, then in his early prime, was already 
prominent in the affairs of the Indian Territory. Of these nineteen attorneys, 
only five survive and none of them are as active as they were during most of 
the intervening period. With three or four exceptions, all of them were cit- 
izens of the states, though most of them subsequently became citizens of 
the Indian Territory and, eventually, of Oklahoma. Such, in brief, is the 
story of the coming of the first white man’s court to what is now Okla- 
homa. Though its bar was small in the beginning, it numbered among its 
members some very able and worthy attorneys—men who were destined to 
have a large part, not alone in professional practice but also in civic and polit- 
ical leadership that came into play in the founding of a great commonwealth. 

The bringing of a Federal court into the Indian Territory after a delay of 
nearly a quarter century following its first promise in the treaties of 1866, was 
not generally considered a great improvement over attachment to the respec- 
tive jurisdictions of Federal courts in adjacent states, especially if it could 
meet only in one place and that not centrally located. In consequence of the 
dissatisfaction incident to such a condition, therefore, an increase in the num- 
ber of towns in which terms of this court should be held soon began to be 
mooted. In September, 1889, a group of Congressmen who were members of 
the House Committee on Territories, including Representatives Samuel R. 
Peters and Bishop W. Perkins of Kansas; Charles H. Mansur, of Missouri; 
John M. Allen, of Mississippi; Charles S. Baker, of New York, and William 
M. Springer, of Illinois, visited the Indian Territory—including the newly 
opened and recently settled Oklahoma country. During the course of the 
visit of these gentlemen at Muskogee, the matter of the proposed division of 
the Indian Territory and the establishment of Oklahoma Territory was under 
discussion, the question of a suitable boundary line between the two terri- 
tories being under consideration. While the northern and western boundary 
lines of the Chickasaw Nation were being pointed out on the map as an inevit- 
able part of the boundary between the two territories, Mr. Allen (who was 
popularly known as “Private” John Allen) called attention to the distance of 
the Chickasaw country from the seat of the Federal court at Muskogee, and 
exclaimed: “The United States Court of the Indian Territory should hold one 
or two terms at Ardmore, each year.” Indirectly the remark thus made led to 
the initiation of a movement which resulted in Ardmore being made the second 
Federal court town in the Indian Territory, a few months later.8 

By the provisions of Section 9, of Chapter 182, of the acts of the 1st Session 


8. A brief account of the beginning of the movement to have terms of the United 
States Court of the Indian Territory held at Ardmore is to be found in Appendix LI-1. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 721 


of the 51st Congress, approved May 2, 1890, commonly known as the Okla- 
homa Organic Act, there was created the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme 
Court, to consist of one chief justice and two associates.® The duties and 
powers of this court were fully defined and prescribed. The individual mem- 
bers of this court were each to serve as judges of the Territorial districts as 
well, and as such, they were to have Federal as well as Territorial jurisdiction. 
The Organic Act made due provision for inferior courts, also. 

Under the provisions of Section 30, of the same act, the United States 
Court of the Indian Territory was reorganized in three divisions, though with 
but a single judge. The first division, which was to be located at Muskogee, 
was to have jurisdiction over all cases arising in the Cherokee and Creek 
countries and also in those of the tribes belonging to the Quapaw Indian 
Agency. The powers and duties of this court were still further defined and 
amplified by other sections of the same act. Provision was made for the 
appointment of an assistant attorney: and for the appointment of a deputy 
clerk in each of the two divisions of which the district attorney and the clerk 
were not residents. The work of the court was rendered much more effective 
by the grant of authority to the judge to appoint not exceeding three United 
States commissioners in each division.1° This reorganization of the Federal 
court in the Indian Territory afforded a measure of relief, though distances 
from some parts of the Territory to towns where court sessions were held still 
occasioned great inconvenience. 

President Harrison appointed as chief justice of the Oklahoma Territorial 
Supreme Court, Edward B. Greene, and as associate justices, Abraham J. 
Seay and John G. Clark. In 1891, Justice Seay was appointed as Governor of 
the Territory and John H. Burford was appointed to fill the vacancy. With 
the change of the National administration at Washington, there came changes 
in the personnel of the courts of both Oklahoma and Indian territories in 
1893. Charles B. Stuart was appointed to succeed Judge Shackleford as judge 
of the United States Court of the Indian Territory, while Justices Greene and 
Clark, of the Territorial Supreme Court of Oklahoma, were superseded by 
Frank Dale and Henry W. Scott. 

An act of the 53d Congress, approved December 21, 1893, made provision 
for the increase of the size of the Territorial Supreme Court of Oklahoma by 
the addition of two more justices, Andrew G. C. Bierer and John L. McAtee 
being appointed to fill the new positions.11_ Later on in the same session, by 
the terms of an act of Congress approved March 1, 1895, the Federal Court of 
the Indian Territory was reorganized by making provision for two additional 
judges, the three districts being designated and composed as follows: (1) the 
Northern District, including the Cherokee Nation and the reservations 
attached to the Quapaw Agency; (2) the Central District, including the Creek 
and Seminole nations, and (3) the Southern District, including the Choctaw 


9. U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. XXVI, pp. 85-86. 
10. Ibid., pp. 93-94. 
11. Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 20. 


Okla—46 


722 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


and Chickasaw nations.1? The extra-territorial powers and jurisdiction of the 
Federal district courts of the adjacent states was ended and the Federal district 
courts of the Indian Territory were granted with exclusive jurisdiction. To this 
end, the three judges were also clothed with authority as ex-officio justices of 
the Indian Territory Court of Appeals. Constantine B. Kilgore, of Texas, and 
William M. Springer, of Illinois, both former representatives in Congress, and 
the latter one of the sponsors of Oklahoma in the House, were appointed to fill 
the newly created places on the Federal bench in the Indian Territory. Inci- 
dentally, the salary of the Federal judges in the Indian Territory was advanced 
from $3,500 to $5,000 per year, while that of the judges of the Territorial courts 
of Oklahoma remained at $3,000 per year until before the end of the Territorial 
period, when it was raised to $4,000—a discrimination that was not justified by 
the difference in the amount or character of the service rendered. It should also 
be remarked in this connection that all Federal judgeships in the Indian Terri- 
tory were filled by appointment from outside its bounds, while only part of the 
appointments on the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court were of the class 
which was popularly known as “carpet bagger” appointments, 7. e., from out- 
side the limits of the Territory. 

When the majesty of the law first presented itself in parts of the two terri- 
tories to which such institutions were new and unknown, it had to face some 
very novel conditions. This was especially true of some portions of Western 
Oklahoma Territory, where settlers were few and cattle range ideals and 
customs still prevailed. Judge John H. Burford’s reminiscences of his first 
term of court at Beaver, while related in a humorous vein, were not lacking 
in the element of grim earnestness as he told how he found it necessary to re- 
quire everyone in the court room—attorneys, litigants, witnesses, jurors and idle 
visitors and loafers as well—to turn in their “shootin’ irons” to the deputy mar- 
shal and the court clerk, taking receipt for the same, so that each might claim 
his property after court adjourned, so that the custom of carrying six-shooters 
to court passed out of style, right from the start. Notwithstanding his prelim- 
inary course of taming, however, Judge John L. McAtee (who was a Maryland 
appointee) found some of the western Oklahoma counties “too wild and 
wooly” for his comfort and feeling of personal security, so he asked to be 
relieved of his assignment to preside over the district court terms in that part 
of the Territory, whereupon Judge A. G. C. Bierer who, having lived in the 
West almost from his youth, was able to adapt himself to the circumstances 
and conditions (and who is still engaged in the active practice of his profes- 
sion in Oklahoma), volunteered to take that district—where he immediately 
won the confidence and respect of all who came in contact with him. The 
judge who rode such a circuit had long and not always pleasant trips to make, 
driving overland with a buggy or buckboard. Moreover, the hotels of that 
day, in the new towns, were not models of comfort or convenience, but a judge 
who could adapt himself to the conditions, and who could prove himself affable 
and a “good mixer,” never failed to win his way with the people. 


12. Ibid., pp. 693-98. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 723 


The population was increasing in both territories, hence the necessity of 
additional judges. The number of court districts in the Indian Territory was 
increased from three to four, by an act of Congress approved June 17, 1897.13 
Its bounds included the whole of the Chickasaw country and it was designated 
as the Western District. The seats or locations of the courts of the four 
districts were, respectively, at Vinita, Muskogee, McAlester and Ardmore. 
The Indian Territory Court of Appeals was located at McAlester, the judge of 
the Southern District being its presiding justice. Most of the judges of these 
courts were selected as the result of political endorsements, yet, at that, they 
averaged fairly well as jurists. Most of them had been in public life (though 
few in judicial positions) before coming to take up service in one or the other 
of the two territories. Each of the two territories had unpleasant experiences 
with at least one misfit. The arbitrary and high-handed course pursued by 
one judge in Oklahoma was such as to almost lead to a local uprising and, 
eventually, it led to his involuntary retirement. Some of the ablest and most 
respected judges, on the other hand, were men who had been appointed from 
“the states” and who came under the “carpet bagger” classification, remained 
as citizens of territory and state after their official tenure had ended. Others, 
who were mere partisan opportunists, disappeared as soon as they were 
separated from the official pay-roll. 

Although there was but little for lawyers to do in Oklahoma Territory 
until after the Organic Act was passed and went into effect, yet there was an 
over-supply of lawyers, good, bad and iridifferent, right from the start. The 
opportunity to “help build another new state” had its appeal which could not 
be resisted. To the young men of the legal profession, it offered certain allure- 
ments that might easily be blended with the vocational career. To those of 
middle or later life, upon whom fate had not lavished her favors, it seemed to 
offer “another chance” for success in life. With the rest, the field seemed to 
beckon to some men of high character and worthy experience and to others 
of varied attainments and brilliant mentality. With these, unfortunately, 
there came an over-supply of professional adventurers, pettifoggers, shysters, 
and tricksters, who lacked not alone in ability but also in the elements of 
worthy ambition, purpose and common honesty. 

An act of Congress, approved May 2, 1902, created places for two addi- 
tional justices on the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court.14 By the act 
approved February 13, 1903, Congress made provision for the creation of 
twenty-six recording districts in the Indian Territory, each of which had its 
“court town,” in which terms of the district court were held and in which 
deputy clerks of the court were required to keep offices. In a way, these 
recording districts and court towns corresponded to counties and county-seats, 
respectively. The deputy court clerks were ex-officio recorders of deeds. With 
the building of new railways, the discovery and earlier development of the 
oil resources and the rapid increase of population, there came such a growth 


13. Ibid., Vol. XXXI, p. 86. 
14. Ibid., Vol. XXXII, p. 184. 


724 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


in the business of the courts that, in 1904, Congress authorized four new judges 
—one for each of the existing districts—in the Indian Territory. These were 
to have concurrent jurisdiction with those already on the bench, though with 
the distinction that they were not to serve on the bench of the Appellate Court 
of the Indian Territory. Each was, therefore, assigned to preside over the 
courts of certain recording districts, though, in emergencies, there might be 
temporary assignments elsewhere. The number of United States Commis- 
sioners had also been gradually increased, as population and business. devel- 
oped. These officials handled much of the business that would have been 
transacted by justices of the peace and by county courts, under state govern- 
ments, as well as carrying out the instructions of the district courts and per- 
forming certain prescribed functions pertaining thereto. 

With the coming of statehood in 1907, the territorial courts of both terri- 
tories ceased to exist and were immediately replaced by the courts of the new 
State of Oklahoma. The new Supreme Court has consisted of a chief justice 
and eight justices. All are elected as justices, the members of the court elect- 
ing the chief justice for the term of one year, thus making it possible to pass 
the honor around, not always with regard to eminent professional qualifica- 
tions. While such a custom may have pleased the spirit of complacency in 
some instances, the position has sometimes failed to hold the distinction which 
should pertain to that high office. The choice of the chief justice, as such, 
rather than by perfunctory election by the other justices of the court would 
undoubtedly have a beneficial effect. The peculiar methods attendant on the 
campaigns which precede primary elections have had the effect of discouraging 
the aspirations of much of the really available judicial material; certainly, 
some of the personal campaigns which have been made for nomination to 
judicial offices of Oklahoma have not been such as to command the respect 
with which the courts of law should be held in the estimation of the citizen- 
ship of the commonwealth. 

The over-crowded docket of the Supreme Court has resulted in the creation 
of supreme court commissions by legislative action by several sessions of the 
Legislature. Such tribunals were clothed with full appellate jurisdiction on all 
cases assigned by the Supreme Court. Each has been created for a definite 
term of from two to four years, its existence expiring by limitation. 

A court of Criminal Appeals, clothed with exclusive jurisdiction in all 
appellate matters arising from the action of lower courts of the State in regard 
to criminal cases, was created by the First Legislature in 1908.15 This tribunal 
has always consisted of three judges or justices. It was first created to fill a 
temporary need and was to expire by limitation at the beginning of 1911. The 
Second Legislature passed an act giving it continuous existence unless other- 
wise provided by subsequent statutory enactment. This court has received 
national recognition because of its efficiency and fidelity to the recognized 
principle of justice and law, with the human element embodied as something 
more than merely an abstract fact.1® 


15. Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1907-08, p. 290. 

16. Judge Thomas H. Doyle, who served continuously as a justice of the Court of 
Criminal Appeals, from the establishment of the Court in May, 1908, to January, 1929, not 
only served longer than any other judge of either of the appellate courts of Oklahoma but 


~ OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 725 


During the earlier biennial sessions of the State Legislature, new tribunals 
designated as “superior courts,” having concurrent jurisdiction with the 
district courts, were created for a number of counties. There was no popular 
demand for the establishment of such courts and, in most instances, no appar- 
ent need for such an additional means of public justice. Rather, they were 
commonly regarded as a means of rewarding aspirants for judicial honors who 
might otherwise have failed to be the beneficiary of public preferment, the 
positions thus created being filled by appointment of the Governor. Eventu- 
ally these special courts were abolished by act of subsequent legislatures. 

The ease with which appeals may be taken from the findings and rulings 
of lower courts in Oklahoma and the trivial pretexts upon which many appeals 
have been based, have resulted in not only overloading the dockets of the 
appellate courts but also in a distinct lowering of the feeling of respect for the 
courts on the part of the citizenship of the State. In numerous instances, at 
least, appeals have been filed merely for the purpose of delaying execution of 
judgment and without the remotest hope of ever being able to securea reversal. 
A large part of the membership of the bar of Oklahoma is as thoroughly dis- 
gusted with the existence of such a condition as is the average intelligent cit- 
izen of the State. At this writing, the Oklahoma State Bar Association is 
striving for a more strict enforcement of professional ethics—an effort that is 
worthy of the encouragement and active support of the laity. 

The bar of Oklahoma numbers among its members men who, in ability, 
integrity, leadership and personality, would be the peers of the ablest and 
most influential and useful in their profession anywhere. The influence of 
such men is being constantly exerted in the direction of higher standards of 
qualification for admission to the bar. Eventually, such an influence must 
result in great improvement and in ultimate benefit to society as a whole. 


also gained nation-wide distinction because of the soundness and fairness of the opinions 
which he handed down and is generally recognized as Oklahoma’s most eminent jurist. His 
rulings have also been accorded international recognition in the courts of some of the 
other English-speaking countries, which are members of the British Empire. 


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OKLAHOMA’S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 
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CHAPTER LIII. 
OKLAHOMA’S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. 


When Oklahoma was opened to white settlement, in 1889, the organiza- 
tion of a public school system was not possible until after the passage of the 
Organic Act and the installation of a Territorial Government. During the 
year which intervened between the date of the opening and the establishment 
of the Territorial government, subscription schools were maintained in the 
larger towns and cities. The Organic Act provided for the organization of 
a system of public schools and appropriated the sum of $50,000 for the sup- 
port of the same until the necessary revenue could be raised by local taxation 
for their maintenance. 

In accordance with the law under which the lands of Oklahoma were 
opened to settlement, two sections of each township (16 and 36) were reserved 
for the benefit of the public schools of the future commonwealth. When the 
Territorial government was installed, the organization of a public school 
system was promptly undertaken under the provisions of the Nebraska Sta- 
tutes, which had been adopted by Congress to serve as the laws of the new 
Territory until its Legislative Assembly should amend or modify the same 
or substitute others in their stead. Professor J. H. Lawhead, of Kingfisher 
County, was appointed as Territorial superintendent of public instruction, 
and county superintendents were appointed for each of the seven counties. 
Superintendent Lawhead, who had been State superintendent of public 
instruction in Kansas before coming to Oklahoma, died before the expiration 
of his term of office and was succeeded by Reverend J. H. Parker, of King- 
fisher. Superintendent Parker was one of the founders of Kingfisher College, 
a Congregational institution. He also served as president of that institution 
for several years. 

In June, 1890, at the suggestion of Governor Steele, an educational meet- 
ing was held at Edmond. At this meeting a committee of teachers consisting 
of E. H. Umholtz and J. A. J. Baugus, of Oklahoma City; G. D. Moss, of 
Kingfisher; Mrs. Lucy E. Twyford, Mrs. Daisy Uhland Svegaberg and W. 
A. L. Hoff, of Edmond; and Henry C. Decker, of Guthrie, was selected to 
undertake the work of drafting a code of school laws for submission to the 
Legislative Assembly. This committee did most of its work at Oklahoma 
City. About three weeks were spent in the formulation of the measure which 
served as a basis for public school legislation during the session of the First 
Territorial Legislative Assembly which followed. The members of the com- 
mittee served without compensation other than their expenses, which were 
defrayed from a fund that was raised by popular subscription among the 
citizens of Oklahoma City.? 

The First Territorial Legislative Assembly enacted the necessary laws 


1. Personal information furnished to the writer (J. B. T.) by Superintendent George D. 
Moss. 


730 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


for the location and establishment of the University, at Norman, the Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical College, at Stillwater, and the Normal School, at 
Edmond. All of these institutions were organized during the following years. 
Changes in the administration of the Agricultural and Mechanical College 
and the Normal School were frequent during their earlier years. Some able 
men were called to fill these positions, but petty politics and the machina- 
tions of agents and schoolbook publishers disgusted and drove several of them 
from the Territory. Dr. David R. Boyd, who was selected as the first presi- 
dent of the University of Oklahoma, succeeded in steering clear of such 
troubles and filled that position until the university was reorganized under 
the State government, in 1908. 

The Legislative Assembly of 1897 passed an act providing for the estab- 
lishment of the Northwestern State Normal, at Alva. In 1901 the Assembly 
made a provision for the establishment of two additional State schools— 
the Southwestern State Normal which, after some contention and litigation, 
was finally located at Weatherford, and the University Preparatory School, 
which was located at Tonkawa. 

After the homestead lands of Oklahoma were mostly taken up, inquiries 
reached the Governor of the Territory as to when the school lands would be 
placed on sale. In reply to all such inquiries it was stated that the lands could 
not be sold until after Oklahoma had been admitted into the Union as a State. 
Some of these lands were already occupied by squatters who were using 
the same without permission and without paying rent. The matter was 
referred by the Governor to the Secretary of the Interior. Shortly afterward, 
the United States Senate passed a bill, the purpose of which was to provide 
for the leasing of the public school lands of Oklahoma Territory. The bill 
unfortunately did not pass the House of Representatives. The Fifty-third 
Congress, however, did pass an act which authorized the Territory to lease 
the school lands under proper regulation, and the course thus taken was 
followed and continued with but little change until the end of the Territorial 
period.2, The moneys derived from leasing were divided among several coun- 
ties pro rata, according to their school population. A district school was 
established in nearly every community within a year after its settlement. 
These pioneer school houses were not always pretentious. Indeed, when 
funds were scarce or lacking altogether, the humble edifice was often built 
by community effort, with the materials at hand. Those in the eastern coun- 
ties, where the timber was plentiful, were built of logs. In the prairie region, 
the first school house in the district was sometimes built of sod or turf. In 
either event, such a building served its purpose for the time being. 

In the Indian Territory, each of the Five Civilized Tribes had its own 
educational system, with its national superintendent of schools. These schools 
consisted of two classes, namely, (1) the district schools which, while some- 
what primitive in type and in character of work done, were analogous to 
the rural district schools then maintained in the states and other territories, 
and (2) the tribal academies and seminaries, most of which were of the 


2. United States Statutes at Large, Vol. XXVI, p. 1023. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 731 


grammar school grade, though there were a few which approximated the 
high school grade. In addition to these there were a number of mission 
schools scattered throughout the Five Civilized Tribes, and operated by mis- 
sionaries of some one or other of the various evangelical mission boards. 
The town of Muskogee was quite an educational center during the larger 
part of the period between 1890 and Ig1o. , Bacone Indian University, a 
Baptist institution, Harrel International Institute, a Methodist institution, 
and Henry Kendall College, which was under the patronage and control of the 
Presbyterian Church, were leading institutions of this class. There was also 
a Catholic College established and maintained at Muskogee. Willie Halsell 
College, at Vinita, and Hargrove College, at Ardmore, both under the patron- 
age of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, also flourished at this period. 

A number of denominational colleges had been developed in the former 
Territory of Oklahoma, including Kingfisher College (Congregational) ; Phil- 
lips Christian University, at Enid; Oklahoma Methodist University (now the 
Oklahoma City University) at Guthrie; and the Oklahoma Baptist Univer- 
sity, at Shawnee. Kingfisher College continued for a number of years after 
the State was admitted to the Union, but was finally discontinued for lack 
of adequate support. On the Indian Territory side, Henry Kendall College 
was moved from Muskogee to Tulsa, where it has since been reorganized and 
which is now known as the University of Tulsa. Sacred Heart Mission and 
School (Roman Catholic) was established in the Pottawatomie country in 
1873, by the Benedictine Order. While this mission and school has been 
continued on the old site, St. Gregory’s College, at Shawnee, also conducted 
by the Benedictine Order, was practically an outgrowth of the mission and 
school at Sacred Heart. The Catholic College and St. Joseph’s Academy 
were instituted under the direction and management of the Sisters of Charity, 
at Guthrie in the early Territorial days. 

When the University of Oklahoma was reorganized in 1908, Reverend 
A. Grant Evans, who was long associated with missionary education in the 
Indian Territory and who served for many years as president of Henry Ken- 
dall College, was installed as president, a position which he held for three 
years. Reverend Theodore F. Brewer, who had served as president of Har- 
rell Institute, at Muskogee, during the Territorial period, was also connected 
with the university for a time after its reorganization. Within three years 
after the organization of the State, the number of state institutions of learn- 
ing was increased by the addition of a School of Mines, at Wilburton; the 
College for Women, at Chickasha; three more normal schools, located respec- 
tively at Ada, Durant and Tahlequah; six district agricultural schools, located 
respectively at Lawton, Tishomingo, Warner, Broken Arrow, Helena and 
Goodwell. (The agricultural schools at Helena and Broken Arrow were 
subsequently discontinued.) One additional university preparatory school 
was established at Claremore, thus making a total of eighteen State educa- 
tional institutions, exclusive of the Industrial and Normal School for Colored 
People at Langston (established in 1897), and those of eleemosynary, or refor- 
matory character. 


732 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


With the passage and approval of the Curtis Act, in 1898, the control 
of the school systems of the Five Civilized Tribes was taken over by a Fed- 
eral school administration. The tribal funds were supplemented by Federal 
appropriation which made it possible to furnish schooling also to the chil- 
dren of non-citizen white people, who were mostly tenement farmers. Also 
the common schools of the Five Civilized Tribes were brought under a uni- 
form system for the first time. To the supervision of this important work, 
John D. Benedict, an Illinois educator of experience and standing, was 
appointed. He was assisted by four district supervisors. Under his direc- 
tion the schools of the Indian Territory were radically remodeled and 
improved. The standard of requirements for teachers was raised and normal 
institutes were regularly held at different points in the Territory each year. 
As far as possible, the facilities afforded by the tribal schools were made 
available to the children of non-citizens who resided in the Territory, the 
tribal school funds being supplemented as already stated, by a Federal 
appropriation made partly for that purpose. As the various towns and 
cities were surveyed and incorporated, they were enabled to levy taxes for 
the building and support of schools. The first school district organization 
in the Indian Territory was effected at Wagoner, in 1897, that town having 
been incorporated a short time before. Although each of the local school 
districts was independent of the Federal Indian school system, the local and 
Federal school authorities codperated in maintaining the best standards pos- 
sible. Superintendent Benedict remained at the head of the Indian school 
service until statehood had made possible the organization of a permanent 
school system. 

One of the provisions of the Enabling Act, by which Oklahoma was to 
be admitted to the Union, was an appropriation of $5,000,000 to the perma- 
nent school fund of the new State, for the reason that there had been no 
lands reserved for the benefit of schools in the Indian Territory. The manage- 
ment of this $5,000,000 appropriation for the endowment of the public schools 
has been administered by the State School Land Board. A large portion of 
the school lands were sold and money placed in a permanent school fund, 
being invested in first mortgage farm land loans. 

The Eighth Territorial Legislative Assembly enacted a law in 1905 to 
authorize the consolidation of rural school districts in the larger communi- 
ties. People were slow to adopt this system, but the number of consolidated 
district and township schools in Oklahoma is slowly increasing and good 
high schools are thus maintained in a number of rural communities, where it 
was formerly believed that only the old time district school with its meager 
facilities, low standards and minimum achievements was possible.® 

3. When the bugle sounded the call to arms for the War with Spain in 1898, many an 
Oklahoma school boy felt his pulse quicken and a number of them enlisted in either the 
regular or voluntary military service. One of these, Roy Cashion, who had gradu- 
ated from the Hennessey High School less than a year before, enlisted in the lst United 
States Volunteer Cavalry (Roosevelt’s ‘‘Rough Riders’) and was killed by a Mauser bullet 
during the charge up San Juan Hill—the first Oklahoma school boy to give his life for his 
country on foreign soil. His remains were subsequently brought back for burial at his 
home and a subscription was started for the purpose of erecting a monument to his 
memory. This was afterwards supplemented by a legislative appropriation. A handsome 


no nenant was erected and unveiled in the presence of a large gathering of patriotic 
citizens. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 733 


The honor of being the first to fill the office of State Sperintendent of 
Public Instruction fell to Reverend E. D. Cameron, who had previously served 
as Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction for one term (1893-97). 
The first State Legislature enacted a law providing for a uniform system of 
textbooks throughout the State, and the first adoption was made in the sum- 
mer of 1908. The system of county normal institutes which had prevailed 
in Oklahoma Territory was continued for a number of years after statehood 
was attained, but eventually these gave way to summer sessions at State 
institutions. 

At the beginning of the administration of Governor Cruce (who had him- 
self served as a regent of the university), a progressive step was taken in 
the unification of the supervisory control of all State institutions of learning, 
except those which, by law, were under the control of the Board of Agricul- 
ture, with the State Board of Education at the head of the system. This 
system was continued through Governor Williams’ administration. In 1919, 
however, the Legislature enacted several measures whereby seven new boards 
of regents were created for as many different State institutions, while the 
State Board of Education was left in control of the normal schools. Thus, 
with the Board of Education, the Board of Agriculture and the seven boards 
of regents, there is a total of nine boards of control, the functions of all of 
which are successfully and economically performed in other States by a single 
board of control. 

While the legal proviso that all agricultural and mechanical schools and 
colleges should be under the control of the Board of Agriculture was doubt- 
less made with the best intention, it can scarcely be said to have operated 
as satisfactorily as its projectors had hoped. Indeed, the harmful effects of 
the machinations of petty politics have all too frequently been manifest; 
moreover, the unnecessary duplication in supervisory control has prevented 
unification in other educational lines, as, for instance, in the creation of still 
another State board for the direction of vocational training, because neither 
the Board of Education nor the Board of Agriculture would have been con- 
tent to see the performance of such functions by the other. 

Regrettable as it may seem, all that has been said of politics in the agri- 
cultural schools has been equally true of the normal schools. Of this, the 
multiplicity, variety and differing attainments of the normal school presidents 
that have passed across the stage of temporary prominence may be cited as 
abundant evidence. While some able and worthy men have been included in the 
list, these seemed to fare no better than the less competent and least worthy. 
Whether Oklahoma’s higher educational system has yet reached its perma- 
nent form, remains to be seen since, in the long run, it must be judged by 
its efficiency, rather than by its size. 

Governor Cruce urged that the Legislature reduce the number of State 
institutions but, since their influence stood as a unit in that body, no action 
was taken in regard to the matter. Governor Williams went farther, how- 
ever, in that he vetoed the appropriations for several of the less important 
State institutions, so the same were virtually discontinued for a time. Those 
minor and secondary institutions which had thus been temporarily discon- 


734 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


tinued as the result of the exercise of the veto power by Governor Williams, 
were not only rehabilitated, but one additional State institution—a second 
school of mines at Miami—was established in 1899, however! The folly of 
such an unnecessary duplication having become apparent, this last school 
was subsequently reorganized as a junior college. 

While it is a fact that has quite generally escaped public notice, the most 
pronounced feature in the way of educational development in Oklahoma, 
since the advent of statehood, has been that of its secondary school system. 
The high schools of Oklahoma have been largely standardized in recent years 
not only as to requirements for admission, courses of study, etc., but also the 
qualifications of instructors. Vocational training has been successfully intro- 
duced into a number of the leading high schools of the State and is proving 
such a valuable adjunct that it is evidently only a question of time until 
instruction in such beneficial branches is quite generally introduced and 
maintained in all high schools throughout the State. 

The high schools of several of the larger towns of the State are offer- 
ing a year or more of post-graduate work, for which credit can be received 
at the University of Oklahoma. More and more, are the high schools of 
Oklahoma being drawn into active affiliation with the higher educational 
system of the State. And, since the education of but a small percentage of 
the population can ever be carried beyond the high school, it is eminently 
fitting and proper that the attractiveness, efficiency and usefulness of the 
high schools of Oklahoma should be pushed to the highest possible stage of 
development. 


An Educational Survey—The special session of the Eighth Legislature 
passed an act, approved May 16, 1921, providing for the creation of an educa- 
tional survey commission and making an appropriation of $20,000.00 for the 
purpose of defraying the expense of such a survey. The commission was to 
consist of five members, one of whom was to be the State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction and the other four to be appointed by the Governor. Gov- 
ernor James B. A. Robertson appointed Messrs. George F. Southard, of Enid; 
Charles L. Brooks, of Sapulpa; J. A. Duff, of Cordell, and Cyrus S. Avery, of 
Tulsa, as members of the commission, with State Superintendent Robert H. 
Wilson as chairman ex-officio. 

The commission met and organized in Oklahoma City, November 15, 1921, 
at which time its chairman was authorized and directed to enter into negotia- 
tions with Commissioner of Education John J. Tigert, of the United States 
Bureau of Education, with a view to having the actual work of making such 
a survey under the direction of the educational experts of that office. The 
negotiations thus opened were continued for some weeks with the result that, 
January 17, 1922, the bureau accepted the invitation to conduct the survey as 
requested by the Oklahoma Commission. 

Although the estimated budget of field and office work, transportation and 
compensation of investigators, other than members of the bureau staff, was 
nearly $5,000.00 in excess of the sum appropriated, the gathering of the desired 
information and the arrangement and tabulation of the same was mostly 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 735 


performed during the year 1922. Ten members of the bureau staff and thir- 
teen educational experts from other States, were employed on the under- 
taking. A voluminous report, replete with findings, constructive criticisms 
and recommendations was rendered. Of this report, a digest was published, 
summarizing the facts as disclosed by the survey. 

While the money thus appropriated and used was believed at the time 
to have been wisely expended, Oklahoma has not profited by most of the 
work thus carried out, for the reason that no serious effort has been made, 
either by the succeeding legislatures or the educators of the State, to give 
Oklahoma the benefit of the systematic study thus made. The one possible 
appreciable beneficial result of this survey may be found in the passage of a 
bill making a liberal appropriation for the aid of weak schools, whereby dis- 
tricts having property valuations too low to warrant the maintenance of at 
least an eight months’ term, have been enabled to conduct schools for such a 
minimum term each year. This was provided by the Legislative sessions of 
1925-27 and, presumably, such a policy will be continued by succeeding leg- 
islative sessions so long as the same may be necessary. 


Indian Education—Since the admission of Oklahoma to the Union, the 
number of schools and other institutions devoted to the education and train- 
ing of Indian children and youth has steadily decreased, for the reason that, 
more and more, they are attending the public schools. By the process of 
consolidation and abandonment, more than two-thirds of the government, or 
reservation schools have been discontinued until not more than half a dozen 
of these are still in operation. The noted Indian Industrial School, at Chilocco, 
in the northern part of Kay County, at which there is a general attendance of 
representatives from many tribes, not only from Oklahoma, but also from 
a number of other states, is still maintained by the Government. It carries 
courses not only in the grades, but also those of a full high school curri- 
culum. It gives thorough training in agriculture, the mechanic arts, domestic 
science and household economy. 

Of the Five Civilized Tribes, only two—the Choctaw and Chickasaw 
nations—still operate any tribal schools. In the Choctaw Nation, Jones 
Academy (for boys), at Hartshorne, and Wheelock Seminary (for girls), at 
Millerton, are still in operation. Armstrong Academy and Tushkahoma Semi- 
nary, were also continued for several years after the admission of Oklahoma 
as a State, but each was accidentally destroyed by fire and neither was rebuilt. 
In the Chickasaw Nation, Bloomfield Seminary was rebuilt at Ardmore, after 
its last disastrous fire on the original site. All of the institutions are sup- 
ported by funds derived from royalties on coal, mined on lands jointly owned 
by the Choctaw and Chickasaw people, and from rentals on segregated and 
unallotted lands. 

In addition to the foregoing, there are several educational institutions for 
Indians which are conducted by various religious denominations. Of these, 
St. Patrick’s Mission, at Anadarko, and St. Agnes Academy, at Antlers, are 
established by the Roman Catholic Church. Dwight Indian Training School 
which was among the Western Cherokees, in Arkansas, in 1821, and moved 


736 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


to the new Cherokee country, on the Sallisaw, in the present Sequoyah County 
in 1829, and which was reéstablished in 1884, after having been abandoned 
in 1861, is still in operation. Although located in the Cherokee country, its 
students represent several tribes. Goodland Mission, established in 1847, has 
the distinction of being the oldest institution of its class in Oklahoma that 
has been in continuous operation ever since. For many years, its superin- 
tendents have been full-blood Indians. It is located a few miles southwest 
of Hugo, in Choctaw County, and practically all of its pupils are of the Choc- 
taw tribe. Both Dwight and Goodland are maintained under Presbyterian 
missionary auspices. 

Bacone College, at Muskogee, was founded by the Baptist Church, back 
in Territorial days, exclusively for the education of Indians, and it has been 
continued for that purpose to the present time. It is now a well equipped 
institution, having a large and sightly campus, a number of buildings and 
an able corps of instructors. The University of Tulsa, originally established 
as Henry Kendall College, at Muskogee, was also designed for the education of 
Indians and, indeed, most of its students and graduates were of that race, 
down to the time of its removal to Tulsa. 

Not only do Indian pupils attend the public schools but Indian students 
and those of Indian descent may be found in representative numbers in most 
of the State’s higher institutions of learning, whence many of them have grad- 
uated. 

Much more might be written of the University of Oklahoma, of the Agri- 
cultural and Mechanical College and of the several teachers colleges. All 
of these have been the recipients of generous support at the hands of the 
commonwealth, and each is well equipped for its work. There has been some 
needless duplication and not all are located as well as might have been, while 
several might have had more sightly topographical settings. However, con- 
sidering the circumstances and influences under which each was founded, each 
is filling the purpose for which it was designed. Each is well patronized and 
the helpful effect and beneficent influence of these institutions is already being 
made manifest in the progressive and resourceful leadership which is now 
coming on the stage of action in the life of Oklahoma. 


Education Associations—The Territorial Teachers’ Association was organ- 
ized early in the Territorial period of Oklahoma. County teachers’ associa- 
tions were likewise instituted in all of the counties of the Territory, meeting 
quarterly. The Territorial Association held annual meetings. 

After the Federal Government took over the administrative supervision 
of national school systems of the Five Civilized Tribes, in the Indian Ter- 
ritory, in 1899, local and territorial teachers’ associations were organized and 
maintained in the Indian Territory also. After the two territories were united 
in the organization of the State of Oklahoma the old territorial teachers’ 
associations were merged and reorganized under the name of the Oklahoma 
Education Association. ‘This institution has the largest membership of all 
of the professional associations in Oklahoma. 

The Oklahoma Teachers’ Association maintains an office in Oklahoma 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 737 


City, with a salaried secretary and office staff. The association published a 
monthly magazine, called the “Oklahoma Teacher,” of which its secretary 
is the editor and manager. Through the mediums of this publication and the 
correspondence of the secretary’s office, the Oklahoma Education Association 
is enabled to keep in close and intimate relationship with the educational 
interests of the entire State. 


The Oklahoma Historical Society—The Oklahoma Historical Society was 
organized at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, May 27, 1893, during the course of the 
annual meeting of the Territorial Press Association. Mr. William P. Camp- 
bell, of Kingfisher, who, as a member of the Kansas Editorial Association, 
had assisted in organizing the Kansas State Historical Society, in April, 
1875, discussed the advisability of organizing a similar society in Oklahoma, 
and closed by moving that the editors assembled in their annual association 
meeting proceed to organize the Oklahoma Historical Society.4 The motion 
prevailed and Mr. Campbell was chosen as the first custodian of the newly 
organized historical society. Two days later issued the following “Circular 
No. 1,” which was widely disseminated over the Territory: 


KINGFISHER, OKLA., May 20, 1893. 

At their annual meeting in this city, May 27th, the editors of Oklahoma created a depart- 
ment in connection with the association, to be called the Oklahoma Historical Society, of which 
the undersigned was elected as secretary and custodian to serve for the ensuing year. 

The object in establishing this department is the collection of newspapers, books and peri- 
odicals, productions of art, science and literature, matters of historic interest, etc. It is espe- 
cially desired that publishers send regularly two copies of their publications to be filed and 
bound at the end of each year. 

While this is designed as an Oklahoma institution, anything of the nature suggested, will be 
thankfully received from any source, and will be given a proper place among the exhibits. 

For the present, headquarters will be at Kingfisher, where a suitable building has been 
secured for the storage, safe care and proper exhibition of contributions. 

Those feeling an interest in laying the permanent foundation for one of the most important 
institutions of Oklahoma, are requested to forward as early as possible, and as often as they 
secure them, any articles that may seem of historic interest, beautiful, instructive or curious. 
Address prepaid. W. P. CampseEtL, Historical Custodian, Kingfisher, O. T. 


The county commissioners of Kingfisher County furnished the room in 
which the beginning of the collections of the new society could be assem- 
bled. The custodian and his brother furnished stationery and postage, and 
means for other small incidental expenses. And thus the newly created “insti- 
tution” made its bid for popular interest and support. What was lacking 
in the way of support was more than made up by the never failing enthu- 
siasm of the Society’s projector and custodian. A year and a half later when 
the Third Territorial Legislative Assembly was asked to make a modest 
appropriation for the support and continuance of the Society’s work, a bill 


4. There were more newspaper men in Oklahoma from Kansas during the earlier years 
of its Territorial period than from any other State. The newspaper men of that State had 
a large part in the organization of the Kansas Historical Society. In a number of cases 
editors and publishers were sending copies of their papers to the Kansas Historical Society 
for preservation, just as they had done while living in that State. Consequently, Mr. W. P. 
Campbell’s suggestion about the organization of a similar institution in Oklahoma was 
like good seed on fertile soil. 


Okla—47 


738 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


was formulated and introduced for this purpose. Later on, certain amend- 
ments innocent enough in appearance, were made to the bill, and with the 
cordial endorsement of Governor Renfrow, this measure was passed. 

It so happened that, though the Historical Society had been organized for 
nearly two years, and had been actively engaged in collecting newspaper 
files, books, documents and other data, it had not taken the precaution to 
secure articles of incorporation. A meeting of the society was called to con- 
vene at Perry, on the 13th of February, 1895, for the purpose of arranging 
to incorporate. It was then found that, on the 16th of the preceding month, 
an association identical in name and purpose had been organized at the Uni- 
versity at Norman, and that it had filed articles of incorporation as “the 
Oklahoma Historical Society,” January 21, 1895. Inasmuch as Governor Ren- 
frow had specifically mentioned the original organization in his message, ten 
days before the organization of the new society at Norman, there is no rea- 
son to believe that those who inspired the last-mentioned movement were 
in ignorance of what had already been done at Kingfisher. However, it was 
evident that in case of a conflict of claims before the Legislative Assembly, 
neither society could hope to secure any support by public appropriation, con- 
sequently a consolidation was effected, and the headquarters of the society 
were established at the university. 

Custodian Campbell was instructed to ship the collections of the Society 
to the Territorial University at Norman, which he did. After the material 
had been received there and duly installed by him, he was informed that his 
services were no longer needed. As there had been no intimation of such 
action prior to the shipment of the collection to Norman, nor during the time 
he was engaged in installing the same in the University building, this was 
naturally more than a mere surprise to him, though it was characteristic of 
practical politics as the game was then being played in Oklahoma. Subse- 
quently William T. Little,5> of Perry, was appointed as custodian, a position 
which he held until the summer of 1899 when he resigned. During the 
ensuing two years the custodianship was held by several university students 
in succession. During this time the collections of the Society, aside from the 
newspaper files of the State, received little, if any attention. 

When the Fifth Legislative Assembly was considering the item of an 
appropriation for the Oklahoma Historical Society, a proviso was inserted, 
giving to the governing board authority to move the collection away from 
the university, in case it was deemed advisable, in order to place it where 
it would be more secure. Nine months later, it was moved to Oklahoma City, 
where it was offered fireproof quarters in the newly erected Carnegie Library. 
(This was a most providential change, as the building in which it had always 
been quartered at the University was destroyed by fire, fifteen months later.) 
Sidney Clarke served as custodian for a time, as also did Mrs. Marion Rock. 
In 1904, Mr. W. P. Campbell, the real founder of the Society and its first 
custodian, was asked to take charge of its collections again, and it remained 
the center of his interest and activities until the time of his death.® 


5. For sketch of W. T. Little, see Appendix LIII-1. 


6. For sketch of William P. Campbell, extracted from Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 
II, p. 2, see Appendix LIII-2. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 739 


In 1908, the collections of the Society were temporarily removed from the 
Carnegie Library building and placed in storage while that structure was 
being remodeled and enlarged. With the occasional help of temporary 
employees, Mr. Campbell continued as the sole member of the Society’s 
staff until 1908, when the permanent employment of a file clerk was author- 
ized. Shortly after that, the quarters of the Society becoming overcrowded, 
part of the collections were stored in another building. In 1917, the new 
capitol having been erected, quarters were secured for the Oklahoma His- 
torical Society in the basement thereof and two additional employees were 
added to the staff. Since that time the collections of the Society have con- 
tinued to grow and there has been much congestion of its quarters in con- 
sequence. Since 1922 it has regularly published a quarterly magazine called, 
“Chronicles of Oklahoma.” 

The Eleventh Legislature made an appropriation for the purchase of addi- 
tional library and magazine equipment, since which time the library and 
museum collections and offices of the Society have been moved and re-installed 
in more commodious, though still inadequate quarters in the basement and 
corridors of the Capitol. In 1929, the Twelfth Legislature appropriated $500,- 
000.00 from the State’s public building funds, for the erection of a building 
specially suited for the housing and installation of the Historical Society 
and its collections. It is worthy of comment that this measure passed both 
branches of the Legislature with but two dissenting votes in each house. 
The signal success of the Society in its effort to this end was due chiefly 
to a favoring public sentiment rather than to skillful lobbying. The new 
building is to be erected on the grounds of the State Capitol and will even- 
tually constitute one of the most interesting and useful edifice in the ultimate 
capitol group. 

For many years the Society membership was limited to newspaper pub- 
lishers, who contributed their files for preservation in its collection. Natur- 
ally but few of these took an active interest in the undertaking, most of them 
being members in name only. In addition to the publishing members, the 
Society now has a large list of voluntary members, both annual and life. Its 
influence and usefulness has grown with the years, and its library and docu- 
mental collections are being increasingly used for research purposes by stu- 
dents, writers and others. 


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COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL 


CHAPTER LIV. 
COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL. 


As stated in one of the earliest chapters in this work, traders entered the 
present Oklahoma within a very few years after the expedition of the first 
French explorers. French traders, operating from the Post of Arkansas, on 
the lower Arkansas River, and from Natchitoches on Red River, in Louisiana, 
plied their business in Oklahoma throughout the last two-thirds of the 
eighteenth century and until the arrival of the first English-speaking Ameri- 
can traders, after the close of the second war with Great Britain, in 1815. 

The French traders carried in stock those lines of goods for which there 
was a keen demand, including blankets, shawls, red flannel, beads, cheap 
jewelry, knives, mirrors, etc. In bartering such wares with the Indians, the 
French traders received furs, pelts and robes, chiefly. Most of the transpor- 
tation of goods and wares was by water, in pirogues (dug-out canoes) or 
bateaux, though pack horses were in use to some extent. 

The first American traders came just as the French traders had, by the 
rivers. They also carried much the same stocks in trade, with the exception 
that they were forbidden to trade or even carry intoxicating liquors in the 
Indian country. They bartered for the same sort of Indian wares that the 
Frenchmen had taken in trade, also purchasing horses. Some of this trade 
was carried on in substantial trading posts, built of logs which were set on 
“end in the ground, picket fashion. However, much of it was sent directly to 
the Indian camps with wagons or pack trains. This mode of traffic continued 
as long as the Indians hunted buffalo. 

The first merchants, in the ordinary sense of that word (1. e., those who 
established and maintained a permanent place of business, or “store,”) came 
with Indian migrations from the East, though these were commonly called 
traders. While these carried in stock many of the same commodities that had 
been handled by the old time Indian trader, they also carried goods and 
wares that were suited to the needs of the civilized Indians and frontier white 
settlers, including boots and shoes, cheap clothing, dry goods, garden tools, 
simple farm implements, saddles, harness, etc. 

As the lands of the Indian Territory were developed, not only Indian 
farmers, but white tenant farmers as well, engaged more or less extensively 
in the production of cotton. Cotton, being grown almost exclusively on many 
farms, it followed that many if not most of the cotton farmers had to be 
financed at least in part. The result was the development of credit-dealing 
traders who furnished the necessaries of life “on time” and, at the end of the 
crop-growing season, purchased the cotton and effected settlements with the 
indebted growers. While not much can be said in favor of such a system of 
husbandry, it was based on a scheme of business organization through the 
operation of which some men were enabled to achieve financial independence. 

During the period just described—from 1875 to 1889—all banking had to 


744 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


be done across the line in neighboring states, as there were no banks in the 
Indian Territory. During the cotton ginning season, when all cotton buying 
traders had to carry considerable cash on hand, considerable sums, in specie 
and bills, were carried in from banks in towns across the line on the border of 
neighboring states, sometimes by some very guileless looking travelers. 

Simultaneously with the opening of the Oklahoma country, the first banks 
were opened for business in the Indian Territory towns of Ardmore, Musko- 
gee and Vinita, just about the same time that the first banks were opened for 
business in Guthrie and Oklahoma City. Indeed, the dispute as to which 
town had the first bank is still unsettled. 

The opening of Oklahoma brought all forms of retail business to the new 
towns, many lines being badly overcrowded. Banks, too, soon appeared on 
the scene. One of the leading business houses of Oklahoma City, at the 
present time, was opened in a tent while the newly settled community was 
still trying to “find itself.” A few days later, it moved to a hastily constructed 
shack and, after several weeks, to a framed building. Likewise, the beginning 
of Oklahoma City’s leading bank now in operation was opened for business 
in a tent. The story of the earlier development of the banking business in 
Guthrie, Oklahoma City, and other towns of Oklahoma Territory, during the 
pioneering period, of the vicissitudes through which they had to pass and of 
the expedient to which they had to resort, would fill a fair sized volume of 
really thrilling interest. Among other experiences, they had to meet panic 
conditions and face runs on the part of excited depositors, which was a very 
grim phase of the business. It is a long call from the small banks of the 
early pioneering period of the Territory to the great institutions which are 
now the head of bank chains, with not only great resources in cash and unques- 
tionable securities behind them, but also with wonderful organizations which 
guarantee their safe and conservative management. 

There was no wholesale business in the Indian Territory. Its traders 
depended on St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Smith and Texas wholesale points 
for supplies to replenish their stocks when depleted. So, too, the retail mer- 
chants of the newly settled towns of Oklahoma secured goods to keep up their 
stocks from Kansas City, Wichita, Fort Worth and Dallas. The single excep- 
tion was the one small wholesale grocery house of the Williamson-Halsell- 
Frazier Company, at Guthrie. When the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway 
was extended to Oklahoma City from Sapulpa, in 1898, this Guthrie wholesale 
grocery house opened a branch house at Oklahoma City. This small branch 
house was the nucleus of Oklahoma City’s wholesale trade. Within a year 
thereafter, there were half a dozen other wholesale houses in Oklahoma City, 
so that it became the first wholesale and jobbing center in Oklahoma Terri- 
tory. Practically all lines of wholesale trade have been represented for a 
number of years past. Not only has the number of lines increased, and the 
number of firms and corporations in each line also, but several of the first 
wholesale firms in the field have increased their business, buildings, equip- 
ment and stock to many times what the same were in the beginning. This 


f 1. A story of the bank run in Oklahoma City, during the panic of 1893, is to be found 
in Appendix LVI-1. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 745 


premier lead in wholesale trade has been successfully maintained by Okla- 
homa City, as indicated by freight traffic and express statistics, bank clearings 
and postal receipts, as well as by the number of corporations and firms en- 
gaged in the wholesale and jobbing business. 

After Oklahoma City and Tulsa, would come Muskogee, Enid, and Ard- 
more, all of which have fair volumes of trade and are recognized as whole- 
saling centers. There are ten or a dozen other cities in Oklahoma which have 
considerable local wholesale trade, though, of course, not many lines are 
included. 

In the Indian Territory, the passage of the Curtis Act and the increasing 
activities of the Dawes Commission, during the closing years of the nineteenth 
century, seemed to give promise of more settled business conditions within 
a few years, consequently the first wholesale houses began to appear in Musk- 
ogee, Ardmore and McAlester. Then, with the dawning of a new century, 
came the discovery of the first oil wells at Red Fork. A few miles distant, 
across the Arkansas River from the Red Fork oil field, was the town of Tulsa, 
as yet little more than a village, with practically nothing to even suggest any 
more promise of the development of a city of metropolitan proportions than 
any one of twenty-five or thirty other Indian Territory towns of that day. 
Oklahoma City, distant more than a hundred miles to the southwest, and 
near the geographic center of the two territories, with three railway lines 
in operation and others projected, was already on the way to commercial 
supremacy. Muskogee, sixty miles down the Arkansas River, located at the 
“Three Forks,” had been foretold by the noted traveler and scientist, Thomas 
Nuttall, more than eighty years before. Moreover, in the matter of the diver- 
sity of the resources of the surrounding region, the location of Muskogee was 
unsurpassed by anything in the two territories. In the other hand, Tulsa was 
merely located where the Arkansas River was intersected by the St. Louis 
& San Francisco Railway, with several oil fields, proven but small, in con- 
tiguous territory. The makings of a great city were not apparent, even to 
many keen-eyed observers. But Tulsa had men—men who possessed vim as 
well as vision—and these, with the cooperation and support of others who 
joined them afterward, have made the dreams of that day of beginnings come 
true. 

In each of the two territories the banks were of two classes, namely, (1) 
national and, (2) territorial. All national banks, of course, were organized 
and conducted in conformity with the Federal banking laws, just as that class 
of institutions were in the states. In the Indian Territory, the territorial banks 
secured their charters from the clerk of the Indian Territory Court of Appeals, 
at McAlester, who was empowered to perform that duty by act of Congress, 
which adopted the banking law of the State of Arkansas for use in the Indian 
Territory. The banks of this class were usually of small capitalization— 
$5,000.00 or $15,000.00—and few of them had an authorized capital of more 
than $25,000.00. As these charters were made perpetual, a number of such 
banking institutions are still in existence, including several that have an 
authorized capitalization of only $5,000.00, 

The Territory of Oklahoma had its own banking laws, which were admin- 


746 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


istered under the direction of an officer known as the Territorial Bank Com- 
missioner. There were a number of banks in Oklahoma Territory which were 
chartered for a minimum capitalization of $5,000.00. All such charters have 
expired, however, and in applying for a renewal, each of these was required to 
increase its capital to at least $10,000.00, which is the minimum capitalization 
allowed by the state banking law. Indeed, for a number of years past, the 
State Banking Board has issued no charters for any new banks with a capi- 
talization of less than $15,000.00, though the law permitting the establish- 
ment of a bank with a capitalization of only $10,000.00 is still in effect. The 
State Banking Board consists of three members, appointed by the Governor, 
the same to be selected from a list of nine nominations submitted by the 
State Bankers’ Association. The Governor also appoints a state bank com- 
missioner who is ex-officio chairman of the State Bank Commission. 

One of the real problems of the banking business has always been that of 
making deposits secure to the patrons. Various plans have been tried in differ- 
ent states, some of which have been successful for a time, but, eventually, all 
have failed. Oklahoma had a bank depositors’ guaranty law for a number of 
years, but its strength was not equal to the strain that was put upon it so it 
met with ultimate failure. Eugene P. Gum, secretary of the Oklahoma 
Bankers’ Association delivered an address at Boulder, Colorado, in June, 
1924, in which he fully explained the workings and weak points of the guar- 
anty law. Mr. Gum spoke in part, as follows: 


The demand for such a law in Oklahoma was raked to the surface by C. N. Haskell, who 
attempted to read the guaranty of deposits into the State Constitution when the convention was 
held in the fall of 1907, but failing in this he outlined a bill of this character which was intro- 
duced in the House December 5th, passed the 17th of December, was passed in the Senate and 
immediately signed by the Governor and it became a law February 14, 1908. The original act 
called for a tax of one per cent. of the average daily deposits in all the State banks to constitute 
a guaranty fund. A higher assessment was made in I909 and, in 1913, it was fixed at two per 
cent. of the deposits. 

In 1911, another change was made in the law. To secure their liability to the fund, each 
bank was required to deposit with the banking board bonds or warrants equal to one per cent. 
of their deposits, with a minimum of $500.00 No deposit was guaranteed that drew interest at 
more than four per cent., fixed by the commissioner, and no bank could organize after the pas- 
sage ee: the act, without paying into the fund three per cent. of its capital before the charter was 
issued. 

Many big bankers were opposed to the law, but assumed a passive attitude because it was 
a popular measure. No sooner had the law gone into effect than it was tested in the courts by 
an injunction filed by the Noble State Bank, in the Logan County District Court. The injunction 
was denied and on appeal, Chief Justice Williams sustained the decision of the lower court, 
and later the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of the law. 

The first big failure, that shook the guaranty fund like an earthquake, occurred when the 
Columbia Bank & Trust Company of Oklahoma City closed its doors on September 21, 1900. 
The small depositors were paid first. One hundred and nineteen banks were allowed to select 
paper due the bank for their balances. The closing of this bank did not cause a ripple on the 
surface at Oklahoma City, though it called out a special assessment of three-fourths of one per 
cent. This great bank failure cost the banks of the state $582,283.00. 


From March 1, 1908, to November 16, 1909, there was an increase of one 
hundred and ninety-two banks, or forty-one per cent., a decrease of ninety- 
two national banks, or thirty per cent., which shows the psychological effect 


WAITE PHILLIPS BUILDING, TULSA 
21 Stories; Cost $2,500,000; Work Starting February, 1927 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 747 


of the law, coming as it did on the heels of the panic of 1907. In concluding 
his address, Mr. Gum said: 

“The law vitalizing the guaranty of deposits died at the hands of the 
Legislature, in the spring of 1823, and I assure you no crepe was hung on the 
State House door and no flags were ordered at half-mast. The only requiem 
sung was, ‘Oh, grave, where is thy victory; oh, death, where is thy sting?” 

There were three hundred and twenty-five national banks in Oklahoma, 
reporting on December 31, 1928, when their aggregate deposits were $354,- 
806,000.00. There were three hundred and thirty-nine state banks, reporting 
on March 31, 1921, with an aggregate capital and surplus of $8,783,000.00 and 
$35,146,000.00 in deposits. 

The Oklahoma Territorial Bankers’ Association was organized early in 
the territorial period. There was also an Indian Territory Bankers’ Associa- 
tion. These two organizations were merged in that of the Oklahoma Bank- 
ers’ Association at the beginning of the statehood period. All banks of 
both classes are included in the membership of the association. While the 
depositors’ guaranty law was in operation, the state banks effected a separate 
organization for the promotion and protection of common interests. This 
organization, known as the State Bankers Association, is still in existence. 

The Federal Reserve Bank has a branch in Oklahoma City. This branch 
bank is one of the largest, outside of the great centers in which the first 
Federal Reserve institutions were established, measured by the number of 
items handled, frequently surpassing some of the original reserve institutions 
first established. 

The first building and loan association in Oklahoma was The Guthrie 
Building and Loan Association, organized in July, 1895. The next one organ- 
ized was the Oklahoma City Building and Loan Association, in December, 
1898. The first institution of that class in the Indian Territory was the 
Indian Territory Building and Loan Association, organized at Durant, in 
August, 1901. There are now ninety building and loan associations in Okla- 
homa, with assets aggregating over $130,000,000.00, the resources of institu- 
tions of this class in Oklahoma City, alone, aggregating over $50,000,000.00. 
They are well distributed throughout the State, most of the counties having 
at least one. They are subject to the supervisory inspection and regulation 
of a division of the State Bank Commissioner’s office. These institutions have 
stimulated thrift, savings and home ownership wherever they have operated. 


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MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 


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CHAPTER LV. 
MATERIAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT. 


The prehistoric aboriginal inhabitants of Oklahoma made little if any use 
of its natural resources. Their agriculture was limited in its scope, though not 
unimportant to them. Their commerce consisted in bartering corn, salt, bow 
wood (bois d’arc), pottery, etc., with the peoples of distant and less favored 
tribes. Aside from salt, silicious stones from which were flaked weapons and 
implements used in tillage or the domestic arts, pottery clays and certain 
pigmentary substances from which decorative paints were made, but little 
was known of the value of the mineral resources which were trodden under 
foot. 

The first European exploring expedition, both Spanish and French, found 
Indians growing corn; they also noticed the evident fertility of the soil, the 
luxuriance of the verdure, the varied growth of timber in forest and along 
streams, the variety of indigenous fruits and the abundance of wild game, 
both feathered and four-footed, all of which betokened the possibilities of 
vast and varied agricultural resources. Outcropping ledges of gypsum and 
building stones stretched athwart the course pursued by the Spanish explorer 
and the French explorers who came later, found potential quarries of build- 
ing stone, deposits of coal and great forests of pine, oak and other valuable 
timber trees. They also saw the Arkansas, Red and other rivers, which were 
suggestive to their mind of the possibilities of commercial development. Other 
resources were there but were hidden from the discerning eyes as also from 
those of several succeeding generations who were to follow. 


Agriculturd—The agriculture of Oklahoma is one of the most varied of 
any state in the Union. This is due to its location and climate. It is almost 
equidistant between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and is also several hun- 
dred miles from both northern and southern frontiers of the United States. 
Because of this fact, it cannot therefore, be classed distinctly either as a 
northern state or a southern state. Within its limits there are successfully 
grown most of the crops which are ordinarily produced in the northern states, 
and also most of the crops which are commonly grown in the southern states. 

Because of its variation in altitude, in basic rock formations, soils and the 
range in its annual rainfall, it may be divided into seven crop zones, respec- 
tively designated as (1) High Plains, (2) Gypsum Hills, (3) Prairie Plains, 
(4) Timbered Plains, (5) Coastal Plain, (6) Ozark Plateau, (7) Ouachita 
Mountain Plateau. As to location this might also be designated respectively, 
(1) Northwestern, (2) Southwestern, (3) Central, (4) East Central, (5) 
Lower Red River, (6) Northeastern, (7) Southeastern. The lowest altitude 
and the greatest rainfall is to be found in the extreme northeastern part of the 
State where the land is about three hundred and twenty-five feet above the 
sea level, with a mean annual rainfall of nearly forty-five inches per year. The 
highest altitude and the lowest rainfall, on the contrary, are found in the 


752 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


extreme northwestern part of the State, where a height of slightly more than 
4,800 feet above sea level is attained, with a mean annual rainfall of not to 
exceed twenty inches every year. The variation in altitude and rainfall is 
more or less uniform between these two points. 

The basic rocks include granite and others of igneous origin, limestone, 
sandstone, gypsum and shale, there being much variation in the quality and 
composition of the various types of each of these. The soils formed by the 
decomposition of these basic rocks, likewise, show great variation in compo- 
sition and consistency. In addition to the soils derived from the decomposi- 
tion of such rocks, some of the soils of Western Oklahoma are composed, in 
part, of materials of volcanic origin also. The variation in soil, as well as in 
rainfall, has had much to do with the particular adaptability of any given 
district or origin to the agriculture and successful production on any particu- 
lar crop or class of crops. 

Throughout the central and western part of the State wheat is commonly 
regarded as one of the staple crops and cotton is grown throughout the central 
and southern parts of the State. Indian corn is a staple crop throughout its 
central and eastern portions. In the western part of the State, where the rain- 
fall is deficient, Indian corn, or maize is very largely replaced by the non- 
saccharine or grain sorghums. Oklahoma holds the first place in the produc- 
tion of broomcorn brush which is largely grown in certain sections of limited 
area. 

Although not all of Oklahoma is included within the cotton growing 
country, it ranks high among the other cotton producing states. One of the 
disadvantageous features of cotton growing, especially by tenant farmers, is 
the tendency to fall into the one-crop system of farming. The destruction of 
the boll weevil has had the effect of forcing popular attention to the wisdom 
of diversified farming in many cotton growing communities, however. 

Truck farming has not been specially developed to any great extent except 
in a few communities, and even then it has been mostly limited to potatoes, 
sweet potatoes and melons. The canning industry has been developed as yet 
only in a very limited way. There are portions of the State in which the truck 
growing industry should be much more fully developed. 

Oklahoma is especially rich in the number of its species of native fruits, 
thus giving evidence of the adaptability of its climate and soil to the cultiva- 
tion of domesticated varieties while fruit culture has been carried on to the 
limited extent as part of the scheme of general farming, but has not yet been 
developed as a specialty in many parts of the State. Apples, peaches, plums, 
grapes and strawberries have been the fruits most largely grown, though 
many other kinds have been found suitable to culture within the bounds of 
the State. The cutting up of large farms into smaller holdings will doubtless 
result in the development of special lines in this branch of agriculture. 

The native nut trees and bushes, of Oklahoma, include the walnut, hickory 
nut, pecan, chinquepin and hazel—some twelve or fifteen species in all. Other 
nut trees have been introduced in artificial cultivation. In recent years, much 
attention has been given to the planting of groves and orchards of pecans of 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 753 


the better varieties, and the production of nuts of this species gives promise 
of becoming of great commercial importance in the State. 

The livestock industry was one of the first to be developed in Oklahoma, 
the cattle ranch taking the place of the buffalo range. It is still well estab- 
lished in all parts of the State, with many herds of pure-bred beef and dairy 
cattle. The production of swine is chiefly limited to those portions of the 
State in which corn is also produced. The best swine are produced, however, 
in counties that have abundant crops of both corn and alfalfa. Stock feeding 
is a business that is largely followed, especially in communities where cotton- 
seed oil mills furnish abundance of cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls to be 
fed with corn and other stock feeds. The dairying industry is fairly well devel- 
oped throughout the greater part of the State. There are numerous cream- 
eries with much cream shipped from localities that have no creameries. The 
cheese-making industry has not been developed as yet, though there should 
be a good opportunity for it. Oklahoma is one of the leading poultry states 
of the Union, as might have been expected, gallinaceous wild game having 
fairly swarmed through the greater portion of the State while it was in its 
formative condition. Beekeeping has been generally introduced but not as 
largely developed as it should be. Most of the honey comes from alfalfa and 
sweet clover. The chief forage crops of Oklahoma are alfalfa, the grain sor- 
ghums and sudan grass, together with a great deal of prairie hay. 

Agriculture was wholly without organization in Oklahoma and, as else- 
where, it has been very slow in its progress to that end. The Farmers Alliance 
organized in Oklahoma and Indian Territories about the time of the Organic 
Act. As elsewhere, it had a brief era of activity and then disappeared. The 
Farmers Union was organized in the two territories a dozen years later and 
this organization has been permanent or continuous, at least down to the 
present time. The Patrons of Husbandry or the Grange, as it is commonly 
called, was organized in Oklahoma a dozen years or more after the Farmers 
Union, and still maintains its organization. 

Under the provisions of an act of the Sixth Territorial Assembly, the 
Oklahoma Territorial Board of Agriculture was formally organized in De- 
cember, 1902. The ensuing legislative session made a small appropriation for 
the beginning of its work, and its office was opened at Guthrie in March, 1903, 
with J. B. Thoburn as secretary in charge. Under his direction the organiza- 
tion of the county farmers institute system was completed. The following 
year, the office was largely concerned in helping to keep the Oklahoma exhibit 
at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition filled with fresh displays from farm, 
garden and orchard. The office also was called upon to take an active part in 
the agitation for the development of conservation, irrigation and drainage 
reclamation. With the adoption of the constitution and the organization of 
a state government, the president of the Board of Agriculture also became a 
member and active director of the office staff and its work, since which time 
the board has been so much involved in politics as to greatly impair its use- 
fulness to the people of the State, because of the discord thus engendered. 

The Board of Agriculture also became ex-officio board of regents for the 


Okla—48 


754 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


Agricultural and Mechanical College and other agricultural and industrial 
schools of the State. These, too, have suffered severely as the result of too 
much political influence exerted through the medium of the governing board. 
In this connection, however, it is worthy of remark that the extension system 
of the Agricultural and Mechanical College, together with the county farm 
agents and the “4-H Clubs” have been largely free from political influence 
much, if not most, of the time; also that the agents last mentioned have 
exerted a potent influence for good throughout the entire length and breadth 
of the State. Many of the farm demonstration workers, county agents and 
leaders of the boys’ and girls’ “4-H Clubs” have proven to be most faithful, 
loyal and devoted in their unselfish service as real community leaders. The 
effects of their work have already been plainly manifest in the farm life of 
Oklahoma for several years past, and these are due to become increasingly 
noticeable as the beneficent influence of such work continues throughout the 
years to come. 

For a number of years past, the State has maintained a market commis- 
sion in conjunction with the Board of Agriculture. Much remains to be done 
in the way of development in the successful marketing of agricultural products ; 
however, state-wide codperative market associations have been active for a 
number of years past, especially by wheat growers and by cotton growers. 

Oklahoma agriculture has been represented at several of the big exposi- 
tions, where it secured medals of honorable awards. Oklahoma wheat from 
Oklahoma Territory received the award of a gold medal at the World’s 
Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893, less than five years after Okla- 
homa had been opened to settlement. 

The Oklahoma Agricultural Experimental Station, in codperation with 
stock judging teams selected from the students of livestock husbandry in the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College, have made numerous annual entries 
of some of their best animals for exhibition and in competition with the best 
stock from other states in the big stock shows at Chicago, Kansas City, 
Oklahoma City and elsewhere. These have captured a number of awards for 
first prizes, while stock judging teams have also walked off with first honors 
upon several occasions, thus proving that Oklahoma’s livestock industry has 
reached an enviable stage of development. 


Mineral Resources—Few states in the Union can equal Oklahoma’s diver- 
sity in the way of mineral resources and none can surpass it in that line. 
These include extensive deposits of oil and gas bearing sand, coal, asphalt, 
building stone of many varieties, the basic materials from which lime, Port- 
land cement, plaster of Paris and other cement and piaster products are manu- 
factured, lead and zinc ores, glass sand, building and concrete sand and gravel, 
clay, shale, and salt in practically unlimited quantities. Iron ore is found 
in a few localities but has not as yet been developed commercially or indus- 
trially. 


The Oil Industry—Oil was first discovered and commercially developed in 
a small way in the northeastern part of Oklahoma, in the early ’nineties. The 


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VIEW ON NORTH ROBINSON STREET, OKLAHOMA CITY 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 755 


real development of the oil industry of the State dates from discovery of the 
first wells in the vicinity of Red Fork, in the spring of 1901, though there had 
been some prospecting and leasing done during the preceding five years. After 
the Red Fork discovery, there was much more general and intensive work done 
in the way of prospecting and “wild cat” test drilling. The discovery of the 
first oil fields in the Osage Nation (now Osage County) and those of Pawnee, 
Rogers, Nowata and Washington counties began in 1904.1 The first oil well 
was “drilled in” in the Ardmore field in 1905; in 1906 the famous Glenn Pool, 
with its marvelous “gushers,” was discovered. From that time on, Oklahoma 
has been accounted as one of the big factors in the petroleum industry of the 
United States. 

Oklahoma’s oil deposits are accounted a part of what is commonly known 
as the “Mid-Continent Field.” It may be described as extending from South- 
eastern Kansas, across the State in a southwest direction, into Northern 
Texas. In Oklahoma it is approximately 250 miles long by 175 miles wide. 
Many if not most of the “pools” (of which not less than 250 have been thus 
far developed in the State) were carefully surveyed and mapped, geologically, 
before being developed. 

When a new oil pool is discovered, the oil is stored in large tanks and 
(in an emergency) in open reservoirs made by throwing up earthen embank- 
ments until larger storage facilities may be secured. In some cases, scores 
and even hundreds of great steel tanks, each capable of holding many thou- 
sands of barrels are grouped over an area of one hundred or more acres, such 
tracts being called “tank farms.” Eventually, nearly every oil pool is con- 
nected with one or more of the pipe lines, through which the crude product 
is pumped to the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes or the Atlantic Seaboard. Some 
of it also is transported by rail, in tank cars. 

Much of the Oklahoma oil is refined locally, extensive refineries being 
located at Tulsa, Bartlesville, Ponca City, Enid, Okmulgee, Ardmore and 
other points throughout the oil producing region. The refinery products 
include kerosene, gasoline and other distillates, lubricating oils of many grades 
and gravities, heavy lubricants and greases, vaseline, paraffine, asphalt and 
others. Much of the lower grade crude oil is used locally as fuel for locomo- 
tives, power plants, factories and for heating purposes. 

Between 1891 and 1893, inclusive, the total oil production of Oklahoma 
was 193,565 barrels. By 1923, the State was producing twice that amount 
of oil every twenty-four hours. The daily average production of oil in Okla- 
homa during the first week in May, 1929, was actually 670,050 barrels. The 
aggregate production of crude oil in the whole of the United States, down 
to I90I, was approximately 1,000,000,000 barrels. Since that time, the aggre- 
gate production has been well over 8,000,000,000 barrels of which more than 
one-fourth was produced in Oklahoma. Over 125,000 oil wells have been 
drilled in Oklahoma. Of these, more than twenty per cent. have been dry 


1. The amazing development of the Osage people would, in itself, if given in detail, 
form one of the most romantic chapters in the history of OKlahoma. A brief statement 
concerning the same will be found in Appendix LV-1. 


756 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


holes. More than sixty per cent. of the producing wells are still yielding oil in 
commercial quantities.? 

While the oil industry in Oklahoma has produced wealth in unprece- 
dented amounts, not all efforts in that line have been attended by success. 
More than $500,000,000.00 have been expended in sinking wells in which no 
oil was found, not to mention investments in the stock of oil companies, 
which have failed either because of unfortunate locations, mismanagement 
or fraudulent promotion. 

It is of interest in this connection, to know that the science of petroleum 
geology was largely developed as well as quite generally used in the oil fields 
of Oklahoma. It is also worthy of remark that the geological department 
of the University of Oklahoma has not only had its classes largely attended 
but also that, from its staff of instructors and its student body, have come a 
large number of the most successful geologists and geological engineers in 
America.2 The comparative proximity of the Arbuckle mountains, wherein 
much more than a mile of the vertical rock formations of the surrounding 
region are horizontally exposed in a practically perfect cross section, has 
afforded a really marvelous opportunity for study. As a means of physical 
illustration, it has furnished a vast out-door laboratory to which, since Igol1, 
thousands of students have gone to tramp and camp and study at first hand, 
from what is, at once, one of the most interesting as well as one of the most 
instructive chapters that Nature has opened for men to read.4 

The story of the discovery and development of the oil industry in Okla- 
homa is one which is in keeping with the rest of the history of the State, in 
that it is rich in romantic incident and situation. Instances in which the 
enterprising and persistent developer has struck “a streak of luck” that sud- 
denly lifted him from a state of bankrupt poverty to one of affluence and 
wealth beyond the dreams of ordinary mortals, have not been rare. Likewise, 
tales of royalty fortunes that have fallen into the laps of mortgage-ridden land 
owners, are even more numerous. With these, there are also associated the 
sordid accounts of the parasitic element that is ever ready to play upon the 
trustfulness and credulity of the inexperienced and incompetent beneficiaries 
of such good fortune. This has been especially true of a conscienceless crew 
that has preyed upon some of the backward full-blood Creek and Seminole 
Indians, who through the political machinations of these unscrupulous 
schemers, were released (1. e., had their restrictions removed) from the juris- 
diction of the Indian Bureau. Other full-bloods whose holdings brought in 
wealth before being released by the bureau, seemingly have been guarded by 
some departmental officials but, even then, the prosperity of these people 
remained insecure from those who claimed to be working for the good of 


2. One of the most recently discovered oil fields is located immediately contiguous to 
Oklahoma City, where wells have been drilled to a depth of over 7,000 feet. 
Brat yee beara 't bags ¢ lotta he from he University of Oklahoma, in 1906, was its 
nus to take up active work as a professional petroleum geologist. H 
the Adagas field, which was developed in 1908-09. i - SOE ee ioas 
4. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists was organized at N 
January, 1916, by Oklahoma geologists. It now has a membership ne 1,700. vice 


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OIL FIELD NEAR TULSA 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 757 


the Indians. Many ignorant freedmen allottees of the former Creek and Semi- 
nole nations, have always been preyed upon. What with the imperfections 
and laxities of the marriage, divorce and other domestic relations, and the 
genealogical intricacies involved in some freedmen and a few Indian heirship 
cases, with the “crooked” lawyers and, in a few cases at least, corrupt col- 
lusions in courts of first instance, not forgetting the colorful ministrations 
of the “professional” guardians, Oklahoma has had more than its share of 
unfavorable advertising along such lines. 

Of the men who have become multi-millionaires in the oil industry of 
Oklahoma, much might be written. Of course, practically all of them have 
been men of pronounced personality, with keen, well developed business 
ability and boundless resourcefulness. Most of them have been honest and 
honorable in all that those terms imply in the world of affairs, but some 
others have not been distinguished by reason of their devotion to “the square 
thing.” Some of the most successful. have been men who would scorn to 
stoop to a dishonorable deed, while others (happily in the minority) have 
been willing to pollute and corrupt anything that came in their way, if mate- 
rial profit might be gained or increased thereby. Equally pitiable are the 
antics of some of those who, having suddenly achieved great wealth, not only 
become unduly ostentatious but aspire to social distinctions for which men- 
tality, personality and breeding have not fitted them. But be it said to their 
honor a number of the State’s leading citizens are included among its 
wealthiest oil men, not alone because of the possession of that wealth, but 
also because of the sense of stewardship with which it has been administered 
and of the public spirit, liberality and munificence which they have mani- 
fested in the way of civic leadership. 

Oklahoma has vast deposits of building stone, of many kinds. The Tisho- 
mingo and Wichita Mountain granites are used to a limited extent. The 
Cherokee marble, of the eastern part of the State, is also worthy of much 
more general use than it has had. It should have been used, in part at least, 
in the erection of the State Capitol and other public buildings. However, 
stone from outside the State was specified for use because it was alleged to 
have been cheaper, the price probably having been cut below the possibility 
of profit in order to prevent the development of quarries in Oklahoma. This 
was also doubtless due in part to freight rate discrimination, of which Okla- 
homa has always had just cause to complain. Repeatedly, Oklahoma ship- 
pers have had to protest against freight tariffs on grain as being discrimina- 
tory, which forces shipment to the Chicago markets instead of to Houston 
or Galveston, although the latter points are but half the distance from Okla- 
homa City, hence the possibility of shipping building stone in from another 
State cheaper than an Oklahoma stone can be delivered. 

The asphalt deposits of Oklahoma are located in the southern part of 
the State. Most of them are in the vicinity of the Arbuckle Mountains, 
though some minerals of this class may be found in the mountainous por- 
tions of the old Choctaw Nation. There are several different varieties, some 
of which are of such utility in the arts as to give them much value. The 


758 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


coarser grades, however, are most numerous and these have come to be more 
noticed since the beginning of systematic efforts in the construction of perma- 
nent hard-surfaced highways. 

Sand and gravel are dredged from river beds, especially in the eastern 
part of the State. These are largely used in highway construction, as ballast 
for railway tracks and in the erection of concrete structures. There are 
stone crushers also in several portions of the State, most of these being used 
in crushing limestone, though granite boulders are also crushed for the same 
purposes. Along with gravel, sand and crushed stone, there should also be 
mentioned the finely broken or flaked limestone obtained in separating the 
lead and zine ores, which is commonly known as “chat.” It is also used in 
building and paving purposes. There are two large plants for the manufac- 
ture of Portland cement in the State, one at Dewey and one at Ada. In the 
western part of the State there are several plants for the manufacture of 
gypsum plaster, which is produced in a number of varieties and grades. 

Although limestone is abundant in the State, not much lime is burned, 
most of the lime used in Oklahoma being shipped in from other states. 

Saline springs occur in a number of places in the eastern half of the State 
and, in the western half of the State, there are three large salt plains, one 
each in Alfalfa, Woods and Harmon counties. In addition to these, there 
are salt springs in Blaine County. Although salt is thus very readily acces- 
sible, practically none is produced commercially in the State. 


Aa el Ee te 


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CHAPTER LVI f 


_ JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE IN OKLAHOMA . 


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CHAPTER LVI. 
JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE IN OKLAHOMA 


It may truly be said that, if it had not been for publicity, Oklahoma might 
even now be just emerging from a wilderness. In other words, had it not 
been for the newspaper space that was given to the preliminary agitation for 
the opening of certain unoccupied lands to homestead settlement, all of the 
organized movements to that end probably would have ended in failure. 
Moreover, the newspapers in the neighboring States and in the eastern 
States would have failed to carry any Oklahoma news or stories, had it not 
been for a very few correspondents, who never failed to throw a glamour of 
romantic association and picturesque interest in everything that they wrote 
about the interdicted lands. Consequently, stories of the half-mythical, half- 
real Oklahoma country commanded instant attention on the part of prac- 
tically every reader. 

The dean of this little corps of special correspondents was Milton W. 
Reynolds, who is mentioned several times elsewhere in this volume, as a 
pioneer newspaper writer and legislator of both Nebraska and Kansas, a 
press correspondent who had been sent to report the proceedings of the great 
peace council at Fort Smith, in the early autumn of 1865, and again at that 
other great peace council which was held in the valley of the Medicine Lodge 
River, two years later. Distinguished more for the brilliancy of his rhetorical 
style than for the absolute accuracy of his statements, his contributions never 
failed to attract instant attention and hold it to the end. The beginning of 
the agitation for the opening of the lands of the Oklahoma country found 
him doing duty as a special correspondent for the Kansas City “Times.” 
Years before, while at the Medicine Lodge Peace Council, he had met and 
learned to admire and respect the Kiowa Indian chieftain, Kicking Bird. 
After the death of the latter, in 1875, Reynolds had assumed the name of his 
Kiowa friend as a nom de plume and it was over the signature of “Kicking 
Bird” that he made the name of Oklahoma a household word, albeit, most 
people who lived at any distance from its borders pronounced it as if spelled 
O-c-k-l-a-h-o-m-a in those days. Payne and Couch might be the leaders of 
the forlorn hope for the right to effect a settlement in the Oklahoma country, 
but “Kicking Bird” was always and ever its prophet. He it was who coined 
the phrase “the Land of the Fair God’’—a resonantly impressive phrase but, 
unfortunately or otherwise, utterly lacking in the elements of association or 
significance—which still found usage among writers of a certain class down 
to a comparatively recent time. He came to Oklahoma, at the opening, in 
1889, to make his home here. He secured a homestead near Edmond and, 
within a few weeks, established the Edmond “Sun,” a weekly newspaper, 
which is published to this day. A year later, when the members of the First 
Territorial Legislative Assembly were to be chosen, twenty-five districts 
were defined for the election of the same number of representatives, while 
one representative was to be elected at large from the whole Territory—an 


762 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


arrangement which had been made for the special purpose of permitting 
“Kicking Bird” to represent all of the people of Oklahoma. He was elected 
but, only three days later, the summons came for him to cross the Great 
Divide and join the others of that generation of great pioneers who had 
gone before. 

The story of the beginnings of the journalism of Oklahoma Territory 
would fill volumes if the same could be collected and compiled, complete in 
all of its details. Suffice it to state that Oklahoma newspaperdom passed 
through as many afflictions, trials and vicissitudes as did the settlers on its 
rural homesteads. Many of them failed and even the names of some of them 
have faded from human memory. The field was badly overcrowded and it 
was manifest from the first that, in some communities in which there were 
too many newspapers, it would be a plain case of a “survival of the fittest,” 
though, unfortunately, even the fittest did not survive all of the lean years 
which were due to follow. 

After the discontinuance of the publication of the Oklahoma “War Chief,” 
in 1886, the first newspaper to carry the name of Oklahoma in its title was 
the Oklahoma City “Times,” dated at Oklahoma City, December 29, 1888. 
Hamline W. Sawyer, of Wichita, Kansas, was editor and publisher, while 
the name of B. R. Harrington appeared as local editor. The paper was a seven- 
column folio, the two outer pages being ready-print, while the inside pages 
were filled with editorial, descriptive and news matter pertaining to the 
Oklahoma country. Four issues are known to have been published before 
the Oklahoma country was thrown open to settlement on the 22d of April, 
following. Harrington, the local editor, made his headquarters at Oklahoma 
City or, rather, at the station of Oklahoma, on the Santa Fe Railway, in the 
valley of the North Canadian, for a time. 

In the freight congestion at Oklahoma City and Guthrie, immediately 
following the opening of Oklahoma, there were a number of printing and 
newspaper plants to be found scattered through the heaps of baggage, house- 
hold goods and merchandise which were awaiting distribution. At Guthrie, 
the first printing plant to be secured by its owner and installed in a tent was 
that of William T. Little, who furnished the “copy” and caused the type to 
be set up for a small three-column folio called the Guthrie “Get-Up,” which 
was printed on a job press and which is said to have been the first publication 
actually printed in Oklahoma after the opening. Frank H. Greer, of Winfield, 
Kansas, established the Oklahoma State “Capital,” the first issues of which 
were printed in the office of the Winfield “Courier” until he could get his 
printing plant installed and in operation. Several other newspapers were 
established at Guthrie shortly after the opening day, some of which survived 
for many months, though eventually they succumbed to the lack of support. 

Hamline W. Sawyer, of Wichita, settled at Oklahoma City, on the opening 
day, bringing his Oklahoma City “Times” with him. A. C. Scott and W. W. 
Scott of Iola, Kansas, established the Oklahoma City “Journal.” Frank 
McMaster, of Chicago, established the Oklahoma City “Gazette,” which he 
conducted for a number of years. McMaster, who was a brilliant writer, sub- 
sequently established and, for several years, published McMaster’s Oklahoma 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 763 


“Magazine.” The “Gazette” was issued as a daily publication right from the 
start—less than a month after the settlement of Oklahoma City. In the 
inevitable readjustment in an overcrowded field, the “Times” and the 
“Journal” were consolidated, under the name of the “Times-Journal,” under 
the editorial management of J. J. Burk. 

When the Oklahoma country was settled in a day, there were many news- 
paper men in the throng, as already intimated, so many, in fact, that it would 
be impossible to mention them all by name. One of these was Captain Jacob 
L. Admire, of Osage City, Kansas, who had been appointed as receiver of 
the United States Land Office, at Kingfisher. In Kansas, Captain Admire 
had been well known as the editor and publisher of the Osage City “Free 
Press.” (Although, like all other Federal appointees in the Oklahoma of 
that day, he had necessarily been selected from one of the states, he was not 
a carpet-bagger in spirit, as he remained a resident and a citizen of Oklahoma 
from the day of his arrival to that of his death). In due time, after he had 
disposed of his Kansas interests, he engaged in the newspaper business as 
the editor and publisher of the Kingfisher “Free Press.” His name was prom- 
inently mentioned in connection with the appointment of the first Governor 
of Oklahoma Territory but, not being from Indiana, he did not receive much, 
if any, consideration in that connection at the hands of the Harrison admin- 
istration. 

The opening of the Iowa, Sac and Fox and Pottawatomie-Shawnee Indian 
reservations, in September, 1891, and that of the Cheyenne and Arapaho 
reservation, in April, 1892, saw the arrival of other newspaper outfits with 
their owners and operators. Among the latter was Thompson B. Ferguson, 
from Chautauqua County, Kansas, who established the Watonga “Republican” 
and who was destined to become Governor of the Territory, nine years later. 
After the close of his service in that capacity, he returned to Watonga and 
resumed his chosen work as an editor and publisher, which he continued 
until the time of his death, when his wife, who had been his faithful and 
efficient associate through the years, assumed the sole control as editor and 
manager. Mrs. Ferguson has not only made a success as an editor and pub- 
lisher but she holds the admiration, esteem and respect of thousands of 
Oklahoma people, the list extending far beyond the bounds of her home 
county. 

With the passing of years, either by the process of discontinuance or that 
of consolidation, the number of newspapers in most of the larger towns was 
materially reduced. Thus there was afforded an opportunity for new initia- 
tives in the journalistic field. In 1892, Grover Cleveland had been reélected 
in a Democratic landslide, thus forecasting with certainty an administrative 
change in the public affairs of Oklahoma Territory. Manifestly, the vic- 
torious party should have an organ in the Territorial capital. Promptly with 
the beginning of the new year (1893), appeared the Guthrie “Daily Leader,” 
with Roy Hoffman (then a young lawyer in his early twenties) as its editor 
and publisher. It appeared as a morning paper, though chiefly with “grape- 
vine’ telegraph service, leaving the evening field to Frank Greer’s “Daily 
State Capital.” A year and a half later, and simultaneously with the announce- 


764 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


ment of his own appointment as assistant United States district attorney, 
Roy Hoffman sold the “Daily Leader” to Leslie G. Niblack, who continued 
as its editor and publisher for more than thirty years. 

That the size of the burial ground for deceased newspapers was no more 
deterring in Oklahoma City than it was in Guthrie, and despite the fact that 
the former, though a much smaller town than the latter, still had two daily 
papers (the “Times-Journal” and the “Press-Gazette”), an organization 
headed by Rev. Sam Small (then noted as an evangelist and a popular lec- 
turer) projected a new morning paper which was formally launched with the 
beginning of the new year, 1894. It was soon in the slough of financial embar- 
rassment, however, and it found rough going, with several changes of edi- 
torial and business management during the first few weeks of its existence. 
The outcome was that the “Press-Gazette” was consolidated with the “Okla- 
homan,” under the name of the latter, with Charles F. Barrett (since well 
known in the public life of the State) as managing editor. Eventually, it 
was sold to R. Q. Blakeney, who remained as its publisher until the beginning 
of 1900. 

The opening of the lands of the Cherokee Outlet or “Strip,” in September, 
1893, resulted in the arrival of many new newspapers and newspapermen, 
with the business as badly overdone in some of the new towns as it ever had 
been in the towns of “old Oklahoma.” The town of Pawnee, for instance, 
which, for many years past, has had but a single newspaper, had to worry along 
with no less than five publications of that class, one of which was a daily, 
during the first year or two of its existence. One of the most picturesquely 
unique characters who came with this last wave of journalistic immigration 
was that of William E. (“Billy”) Bolton, of Kiowa, Kansas, who located at 
Woodward, where he established the “News” and where, a number of years 
later, he also established the “Live Stock Inspector.” He served for years 
as secretary of the Territorial Press Association. After the death of Bolton, 
another pioneer of that community, Hon. David P. Marum, hitherto an 
attorney, became the editor of the Woodward “Democrat” and was quite 
generally recognized as the nestor of Woodward journalism from that time 
on. A kindly disposed soul who could find something good to say of every 
man, he was also and always a devotedly loyal promoter of everything that 
made for the benefit or betterment of his home town. 

If a prospective change in the political administration of Territorial 
affairs had brought the “Daily Leader” into the field at Guthrie, in 1893, so 
too, a like cause resulted in a readjustment in newspaper circles in that 
town, four years later. The election of McKinley, as President, had so infused 
the Republicans of the Territory with new hopes and aspirations that Frank 
Greer announced that his “Daily State Capital” would change from the 
evening to the morning field, with a limited amount of Associate Press 
service, early in 1897. Simultaneously, the “Leader” abandoned the morning 
field and thereafter appeared as an afternoon publication. In these kaleido- 
scopic changes there figured as writing assistants more than half a score of 
newspaper men each of whom was noted locally in his way and day. There 
was John Golobie, of foreign birth and meagre education but of brilliant men- 


BIRDSEYE VIEW OF TULSA’S BUSINESS SECTION AS SEEN FROM THE ROOF OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
IN THE FOREGROUND SOMETHING OF THE BEAUTY OF TULSA’S STREETS MAY BE SEEN 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 765 


tality, who had arrived in Guthrie as a tramp printer; who had personal 
knowledge of nearly everything that transpired in the Territory’s political 
metropolis; who, after being an hireling for a dozen years, became a part 
owner of a weekly newspaper which he edited for nearly a quarter of century ; 
who sat several terms in the State Senate and was mentioned for an appoint- 
ment in the diplomatic service and whose passing was the occasion of the 
largest funeral concourse ever assembled in Guthrie; then there was Fred 
L. Wenner, whose resourcefulness and versatility were such that he subse- 
quently served successively as private secretary to three of the Territorial 
governors, and who still lives, universally recognized as one of Guthrie’s 
most useful and respected citizens; Harvey Olds, keen, far-sighted and wise 
to the ways of politics and politicians (deceased) ; George McQuaid, of Irish 
extraction, generous, devoted and always ready for a fair fight, who passed 
away in 1928, while connected with the staff of the Dallas “News”; Frank 
Prouty, who was not of a temperament to become excited or in a hurry about 
anything (deceased) ; Eugene Gill, who is reputed to be high up in the Ford 
organization, at Detroit; Otto Beckmeyer, who stuck so closely to his work 
that comparatively few of the people in town knew him, even by sight; Zell 
Hopkins, who is assistant to the president of one of the great railway systems 
that extends westward from St. Louis; Henry E. Derwin, as self-effacing 
and faithful a soul as ever helped to make a success of the other fellow’s 
business and who, several years ago, drifted into the oil game; Earl Keys, 
known in public life and now an Oklahoma City business man, and, last but 
not least, “Corb” Sarchet, recognized as an able special correspondent and 
publicity director, who, for a number of years past, has been secretary of the 
Chamber of Commerce at Ponca City. There were others, of course, not so 
well known, if at all, to this writer. Each of these saw much more varied 
service and therefore achieved a measure of personal distinction that seldom 
comes to the specialist in the more elaborately organized staff of a modern 
daily paper. 

It is not to be forgotten that, while the newspaper business was being 
planted and developed in a small way in Oklahoma Territory, it was also 
being developed, though in a smaller way and more slowly, in the Indian 
Territory. There were local newspapers, published in a few towns mostly 
on the railroads, in the Indian Territory. The difficulties and handicaps under 
which these had to operate, however, were such as to limit the growth of 
such enterprises. The “Cherokee Advocate,” the “Indian Journal” and the 
“Tndian Citizen” had been running for years. The “Indian Chieftain” (Vinita) 
had also been published for seven years, so that it promised a degree of per- 
manence that was quite in contrast with the brief and inglorious careers of 
a dozen or more journalistic experiments which had failed in other parts of 
the Indian Territory. Notwithstanding this, however, there were signs of 
advancement. Railway extensions and new lines had been built and others 
were projected. More railways were interpreted as meaning more people 
and more people certainly meant more newspaper opportunities. In this con- 
nection, the following brief statement as to the number of publications which 
were regularly issued in each of the two territories, each year through a series 


766 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


of years, after the development of both territories was well under way, would 
seem to be of pertinent import and interest. 


1893. 1894. 1895. 1806. 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. 


Oklahoma Territory ....... Olmmtll 7a 27 90 Ooms lOON Ml 1 Lmerry 
lndian "Lerritorys.. ee es ce 32 33 44 47 58 70 75 81 


Leo Bennett, who had been publisher of the “Indian Journal” for a time, 
began the publication of the Muskogee “Phoenix,” in February, 1888. Frank 
C. Hubbard, who also had a prominent part in Indian Territory affairs, was 
associated with the enterprise as local editor. After having been operated as 
a weekly publication for more than thirteen years, the “Phoenix” put out its 
first issue as a daily paper, August 25, 1901. In 1902 Colonel Clarence B. 
Douglas became the editor and publisher of the “Phoenix,” continuing for 
more than six years. Tams Bixby, who had succeeded: to the chairmanship 
of the commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and who, after 1906, occupied 
the position of sole commissioner to the same, became interested in the 
“Phoenix” and, after his final retirement from the public service, he assumed 
its management. After his death, he was succeeded by his sons, who still 
continue to direct its operations. Originally, it was Democratic and Repub- 
lican by turns but, for many years past, it has been independent in its attitude 
toward party lines and party policies. It is a morning paper. 

In September, 1896, a weekly paper, called the Muskogee ‘“Times,” made 
its appearance. A few months later, the Muskogee “Democrat,” also a weekly 
newspaper, issued its initial number. Eugene Kerr purchased these two 
journals which he merged under the name of the Muskogee “Times- 
Democrat.” Its first daily issue as an evening newspaper appeared January I, 
1899. It still occupies the evening field in Muskogee; there have been several 
rival aspirants for that honor during the thirty years which it has been 
serving the public. 

The year 1890 saw three rather pronounced figures enter the field of 
Indian Territory journalism. Of these, the senior in years was J. S. Holden, 
who established the Muldrow “Messenger,” which he published for eight or 
nine years. After disposing of it, he purchased the Fort Gibson “Post.” Hav- 
ing thus taken up his abode in a center of historic interest, the really romantic 
history of which seemed to have been sadly neglected, he devoted himself to 
its rescue and restoration. Whatever he may have lacked in the way of 
accuracy and skill in such a laudable effort, his zeal in the cause was never 
questioned. Moreover, he was an expert in the matter of dissemination, with 
the result that some of the tales concerning that famous old frontier fort, 
which he put into circulation, are still regarded as authentic in some quarters. 
He was a well meaning man, of kind-hearted disposition and, in his way, 
did much to arouse a popular interest in the old fort and its romantic place 
in the early history of Oklahoma. Lewis N. Hornbeck founded the Minco 
“Minstrel,” which was unique among the newspapers of both territories 
because of the literary quality of its editorials. Hornbeck was easily one of. 
the most gifted writers of the local newspaper profession during the terri- 
torial era and his paper was possibly more widely quoted than any other 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 767 


journal of its class in either territory. William H. Walker became connected 
with the Purcell “Register,” which had been established in 1888. Unlike 
most Indian Territory editors, he was a strong advocate of single statehood 
for the two territories—a cause to which he devoted his best efforts, even 
when it was unpopular, and one to the ultimate success of which he con- 
tributed a powerful influence. 

The South McAlester “Capital” was established in 1893. It was published 
by Hinds & Jobe and, in 1896, a daily edition was started—‘the first daily 
newspaper ever published in the Choctaw Nation.” In 1902, a second daily 
newspaper, the “News,” was launched, with Henry P. Robbins as editor. 
The “Capital” was Democratic, while the “News” was Republican. In Sep- 
tember, 1908, the two papers were consolidated under the name of the “News- 
Capital,” a Republican organ, under the editorial direction of Henry P. Rob- 
bins. For nearly five years, this publication had the unique distinction of 
successfully holding the local daily newspaper field as a Republican paper, 
issued in a Democratic community, county and State, against one Democratic 
competitor after another. Finally, on August 1, 1913, the ‘“News-Capital” 
passed into the ownership and control of J. Roy Williams, of Lawton, well 
known as a journalist, former president of the Oklahoma State Press Associa- 
tion and also as a leading Democratic politician and legislator. Henry Rob- 
bins betook himself to the fields of metropolitan journalism outside of Okla- 
homa, with the general realization among Oklahoma people that the profes- 
sion in this State was losing one of its most able and brilliant members. 

In 1902 the “Daily Oklahoman,” began a career of expansion, Edward K. 
Gaylord and associates purchasing a large interest in the publishing com- 
pany, of which Roy E. Stafford was the principal stockholder. A perfecting 
press was installed and morning telegraph service was taken. Eight years 
later, the “Oklahoman” moved to its own new building. Eventually, with the 
retirement of Roy Stafford, in 1918, E. K. Gaylord became the head of the 
Oklahoma Publishing Company, a position which he has since held. A man 
of modest and retiring disposition, he has proven a master in his line. At the 
beginning of the year 1915, the publishing company purchased and took 
over the Oklahoma City “Times” (which was the “Times-Journal” down 
until 1908), an evening paper, which has been published jointly with the 
“Oklahoman” ever since. The Oklahoma Publishing Company has also pub- 
lished the Oklahoma “Farmer-Stockman,’ of which Carl Williams, well 
known as an agricultural writer and in public life, who is at present a member 
of the National Farm Board, has been editor for many years. During the 
course of its growth from a small town daily to one of metropolitan propor- 
tions, the “Oklahoman” has attracted to its service some gifted personalities 
and talented writers. In I913 its managing editor, Preston McGoodwin, 
was called to the diplomatic service as a minister plenipotentiary. Its present 
chief editorial writer, former State Senator Luther Harrison, who has long 
occupied that position, is rightly regarded as a man of unusual ability in his 
line. Miss Edith C. Johnson, who began her service with the “Oklahoman” 
as a society reporter, has long held a justly deserved recognition as a 
columnist and a special writer on matters of particular interest to women 


768 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


and is the author of two published volumes. Walter M. Harrison has held 
the position of managing editor for a dozen years past, ready, resourceful 
and responsive as well as responsible, in which capacity he has abundantly 
proven himself big enough for what has grown to be “a big job.” At present 
he is the president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. 

Alexander Posey, the brilliant young Creek Indian poet, saw some service 
in the journalistic field, especially as editor and publisher of the “Indian 
Journal,” of Eufaula. His tragic death by drowning, in May, 1908, put a 
premature and greatly lamented end to what had promised to be a most 
useful and unusual career. 

In August, 1902, Edgar S. Bronson, with a youthful associate, N. A. 
Nichols, installed a country newspaper plant in a cornfield in the central part 
of Custer County, where the town of Thomas subsequently developed. The 
firm made a success of its enterprise. After more than a dozen years of suc- 
cess as the publishers of the Thomas “Tribune,” they transferred the scene 
of their activities to El Reno, where they took over the “American.” Mr. 
Bronson was, for a number of years, secretary of the Oklahoma State Press 
Association, in which position he rendered valuable service. He was mightily 
interested and very influential in helping to get the rural newspaper business 
out of haphazard methods and to induce the general adoption of carefully 
planned methods instead. He also took great interest in the development of 
the school of journalism in the University of Oklahoma. As an evidence of 
the esteem in which he was held among the newspaper men of the United 
States, he was elected to the presidency of the National Press Association, 
while he was on his death bed. 

About the time that Bronson and Nichols were invading the Custer 
County cornfield, a former rural school teacher, George Riley Hall, by name, 
broke into the newspaper game at Henryetta, with an effort entitled the 
“Free Lance.” Originally, he was reputed to be a rustic fiddler and some- 
thing of a poet, besides, but he long since “hung up the fiddle an’ the bow” 
and he has but seldomed lapsed from the vow to write no more poetry. He has 
not only made a success of his newspaper business but he has also become 
one of Oklahoma’s best loved editors—not only by the members of his 
family but by a host of friends as well. 

The first newspaper to be published at Tulsa was the “Review,” which 
was established in 1893. Several years later, its name was changed to the 
Tulsa “Democrat.” In 1895 another local newspaper, called the “New Era,” 
was established at Tulsa. Its name was likewise changed, several years later, 
when it became known as the “Indian Republican.” Both of these enterprises 
passed through vicissitudes and trials incident to pioneer journalism, because 
of meagre support, and each.experienced several changes in editorial and 
business management. After the discovery of oil in adjacent sections, in 
I90I, business took an upward trend there and several other newspapers 
appeared in the local field from time to time. The “Democrat” appeared as 
an evening daily publication, in 1904. Within a year or two, it passed into the 
control of William Stryker, who had been prominent in Kansas educational 
circles. He remained as its editor until the end of October, 1916, when it was 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 769 


purchased by Charles Page, the Sand Springs capitalist and philanthropist. 
Page had previously purchased the Tulsa “Morning Times,” which had been 
established August 1, 1916, and Vernon L. Smith, who had been managing 
editor of the latter assumed a like position with the “Daily Democrat’ as 
well. On December 6, 1919, both papers passed under the control of Richard 
Lloyd Jones, of Madison, Wisconsin; three weeks later, the papers were 
merged under the name of the Tulsa “Tribune,” under which name and 
management it still continues. 

The Tulsa “World” began publication as a morning daily newspaper, in 
1905. A couple of years later, Thomas A. Latta, the founder of the Bartles- 
ville “Enterprise” and a native of the Indian Territory (though tracing his 
ancestry back through parents who were natives of South Carolina and 
Massachusetts), became associated with the editorial management of the 
“Enterprise,” finally becoming editor-in-chief, which position he retained for 
a number of years. In 1911, Eugene Lorton became interested in the publi- 
cation of the “World,” of which he has been the sole owner and manager 
since 1917. Nominally Republican in politics, it manifests a decidedly inde- 
pendent policy at times. The “World” is now generally recognized as one of 
the big newspaper enterprises of the Southwest. 

In 1906, the Scripps-McRae newspaper syndicate, established the Okla- 
homa “News,” an afternoon paper, in Oklahoma City. During the interven- 
ing period there have been numerous changes in the editorial and business 
managements of this publication, in the course of which it has trained and 
sent forth a number of bright young journalists to other places of usefulness. 
One of the ablest of these is George B. Parker, an Oklahoma University 
man, who went to the editorship of the Cleveland “Press” and from that to 
the position of editor-in-chief of the entire system of the Scripps-Howard 
newspapers, of which the Oklahoma “News” is a member. Carl Magee, the 
present editor of the “News” is a man of nation-wide note as a newspaper 
writer. Mrs. Walter Ferguson, a contributing member of its staff, has also 
gained a wide reputation as a special writer. 

One of the tragic features of the removal of the State capital from Guthrie 
to Oklahoma City was the fact that it put a period to the publication of the 
“Daily State Capital,” which had been continuously published by Frank H. 
Greer, from the opening of Oklahoma to homestead settlement, more than 
twenty-one years before. Both the man and the newspaper had been insepar- 
able from the story of the commonwealth, down to that time. Resourceful 
and ever ready in expedient, Greer had put the energy and talent of a life- 
time into those twenty-one years and his loyalty to Guthrie was as true as 
the needle to the pole. When his printing plant was a total loss as the result 
of a fire, in the early part of 1902, Oklahoma City stood ready to offer sub- 
stantial inducements if he would transfer his business and rebuild in 
Guthrie’s rival town, which was even then beginning to forge ahead of the 
Territorial capital in the elements of population, wealth and business activi- 
ties, but he would not listen to such a proposition. Although his career in 
public life had been limited to a single term in the Legislative Assembly, it 


Okla—49 


770 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


is probable that no other single business man in Oklahoma had reached and 
influenced more people, personally and through a newspaper medium, than 
he had. No town in the State, at the time that it was of the same size 
and population as Guthrie, ever had as pretentious and vigorous a journalistic 
exponent as the capital city of the Territory had in Greer’s “Daily State 
Capital.” Indeed, for years, it was really a newspaper of and for the whole 
Territory. The reasons that made its fight a losing one need not be recounted 
here and now—it suffices to say that its pluck lasted to the end and it went 
down with its colors flying. Everyone—former opponents as well as friends 
and admirers—rejoices that, in another and less conspicuous field of activity, 
and under more favoring auspices, Mr. Greer is meeting with deserved suc- 
cess in life. In a quiet and undemonstrative way, he has been recognized as 
one of the builders of the great city of Tulsa, since 1911. 

A brief review of outstanding editors and publishers of Oklahoma would 
not be complete without a few words of reference to John Fields and his 
Oklahoma “Farmer.” It may well be doubted whether any other writer in 
Oklahoma ever wielded a wider influence in Oklahoma, or a more construc- 
tive one, than John Fields. Though he, too, has been called to another sphere 
of activity, his service in the effort to make the business of farming a success- 
ful one for the many who found it a struggle, is gratefully remembered in 
many a rural home in Oklahoma today. 

Mention has already been made of McMaster’s Oklahoma “Magazine,” 
which was published for a time during the last half of the first decade of 
Oklahoma Territorial history. Brilliant, interesting and pertinent, it failed 
for lack of support. Others have followed in its wake only to meet with the 
same fate. 

Sturm’s Oklahoma “Magazine,” founded at Tulsa, in 1905, and later 
moved to Oklahoma City, weathered the storm for five years under the 
editorial and business management of O. P. Sturm. Its subject matter was 
carefully selected and well edited. Its illustrations were attractive and appro- 
priate and, for a time, there seemed to be a prospect that it might make a 
permanent place for itself in Oklahoma but, seemingly, in an era of cheap 
magazines, it was a losing fight. That its files are treasured in a few of the 
libraries of Oklahoma today is an evidence of its real but unappreciated worth 
when it was published. 

Harlow’s “Weekly” was established by Victor Harlow, in August, 1912, 
and has been regularly issued as a small magazine ever since. Its specialty 
is the editorial discussion of matters of State-wide interest and importance, 
with cross sections of public opinion in the commonwealth, as indicated by 
numerous quotations and citations of editorial expressions of the press of 
Oklahoma. That it fills a useful sphere in the life of the State and of its 
people there can be no question. That such a publication should be more 
widely circulated and more generally read is equally evident. 

One of the largest and most prosperous class publications, issued weekly, 
is the “Oil and Gas Journal,” of Tulsa, which is now running its twenty- 
eighth consecutive volume. It has an extensive circulation and a large and 
profitable advertising patronage. 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE oy ps 


Numerous other magazines have been established in Oklahoma, some of 
which have been really notable in their way but so transient in their existence 
that they cannot be enumerated. 

During the course of the Territorial period, several of the outside news- 
papers—including the Kansas City “Journal,” the Kansas City “Star,” the 
Dallas “News” and the Wichita “Eagle”’—kept correspondents at Guthrie. 
While most of these newspapers made more or less frequent changes in these 
positions of special correspondent, the Kansas City “Star” sent Frederick S. 
Barde to Guthrie as its Oklahoma correspondent in 1897, and he was retained 
on that assignment until he voluntarily relinquished it, more than thirteen 
years later. While he was gifted with a keen, analytical mind, which enabled 
him to sort out the essentials and to locate and secure the underlying facts, 
figures and features, the thorough acquaintance which he gained among the 
men and affairs of the two territories, soon gave him a tremendous advantage 
over other correspondents in the same field, where they were comparatively 
transient and necessarily lacking in the elements of first-hand knowledge 
and personal acquaintance and, with these a ripened judgment that caused 
men in public life to highly regard his opinions concerning politics and public 
affairs, generally. When the capital was removed from Guthrie he resigned 
his position as a correspondent of the Star” and, thereafter, he devoted him- 
self to work as a special correspondent for a number of eastern newspapers 
and magazines. His death, in 1916, was quite generally regarded as a distinct 
loss to Oklahoma. 


Oklahoma in Literature—While Oklahoma has furnished material, theme 
and inspiration for writers from outside of its bounds, for more than a cen- 
tury past, it has been slow at developing a literature of its own. It is true 
that an examination of old scrapbooks and newspaper files will reveal the fact 
that in the days of the old Indian Territory, before the present common- 
wealth was even a dream in the minds of men, there were poets and essayists, 
and philosophers and sages, who knew well how to wield the pen, though 
they wrote only for the few who were to be reached and influenced for the 
time being. Then, forty years ago, with the beginning of legalized white 
settlements, there began also an era of rapid material development in agri; 
culture, commerce and industry which so engrossed the popular attention 
that literature, art and music and the other manifestations of life which make 
for culture and refinement, were largely neglected, if not overlooked alto- 
gether in many instances. However, with the establishment and development 
of universities, colleges and other institutions of learning and the gradual 
growth of more stable conditions, socially and politically, interest in art, 
literature, music and other esthetic phases of life began to make their appear- 
ance. The fact that Oklahoma may seem slow in its development in such 
lines, augurs nothing as to ultimate possibilities. Every other commonwealth 
in the American Union in which cultural development in the arts has reached 
fruition, has had to attain a respectable age before achieving special distinc- 
tion on such account. With Oklahoma’s varied topography and scenic settings 
and with its picturesquely romantic historical background, all these things 


772 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


—epic poetry, thrilling drama, enduring romance, music such as America has 
not yet produced, sculpture and painting before which an admiring mankind 
shall stand in silent awe—all these are within the bounds of possibility in 
the future. Indeed, the curtains of a cultural dawn are only now being lifted 
and only the first faint rays of the light of a great day are giving promise of 
what is to be a generation or two hence. 

Scott Cummins, of Woods County, known also as “the Pilgrim Bard,” 
has already been mentioned in this volume as the poet of the short-grass 
plains, the gypsum canyons and the shifting sand dunes. A pioneer of the 
pioneers, his homely, wholesome verses will live long after more pretentious 
compositions of better educated writers shall have been forgotten. 

Freeman E. Miller, of Stillwater, another pioneer Oklahoma poet, was 
born to the literary purple, since he is a native of the Hoosier State. He has 
been possibly Oklahoma’s most prolific writer of verse and, for years, could 
always be depended upon to fill in every special occasion with appropriate 
lines. His “Oklahoma Sunshine” dispelled the darkness in many a dis- 
couraged heart. 

John M. Oskison, a native of Oklahoma and of Cherokee Indian extrac- 
tion, has followed literature as a profession, in New York City, for nearly 
thirty years past. Originally, he devoted himself largely to short story writ- 
ing but in recent years he has put out several volumes of fiction which have 
been the subject of favorable criticism. 

Vingie E. Roe came to Oklahoma as a child, her father being a pioneer 
physician, at Guthrie. As a young woman still in her college student days, 
she achieved notice as a writer of western poetry of the most striking type. 
She later developed as a writer of short stories and, still later, as the author 
of fiction that is published in book form. 

Jennie Harris Oliver, a neighbor and pupil of Vingie Roe, has developed 
as a writer of both prose and poetry. She writes of the homely things near 
at hand—the things that every-day folks can understand and appreciate. 

General Hugh S. Johnson, who came to Oklahoma with his parents, as 
a young boy, when the Cherokee Outlet was opened to settlement in 1893 
and a sketch of whose life and career as an army officer appears elsewhere in 
this volume, has done some very creditable work on the side as a short story 
writer, his productions appearing in some of the most popular magazines. 

Walter S. Campbell, who writes under the nom de plume of Stanley 
Vestal, who was one of Oklahoma’s men to secure a Rhodes scholarship at 
Oxford and who for more than a dozen years past has held a chair in the 
department of English in the University of Oklahoma, is becoming known 
as one of the State’s most prolific producers, with a number of volumes to 
his credit in very recent years. Like all of the foregoing, his themes are all 
western. 

There are a number of other writers in the making who will be well and 
favorably known in Oklahoma and doubtless elsewhere within a few years. 
But, fs yet the surface of things literary in Oklahoma has scarcely been 
scratched. 


CHAPTER LVII 


RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND FRATERNAL 


CHAPTER LVII. 
RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND FRATERNAL 


The story of the churches in Oklahoma, during the old Indian Territory 
days has been fairly well told, though in a somewhat disconnected way, in 
the chapters relating to the life of the Indian peoples, the missions and mis- 
sionaries among them and their educational interests and institutions. Suffice 
it to say that, previous to the readjustments incident to the close of the Civil 
War, practically all of the church denominations operating in the Indian 
Territory were the Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist 
bodies, the Moravian Church also having a small mission in the Cherokee 
Nation. At the time of the Civil War, if not before, most of these bodies 
were divided, largely along geographical lines. Thus, in 1845, the Methodist 
people of the South withdrew almost in a body and organized the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South. This new organization fell heir to all of the mis- 
sionary work of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Indian Territory, the 
few northern missionaries withdrawing from the service in the territory and 
returning to their homes in the North. 

With the approach of the Great War between the States, the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Congregational) withdrew 
from connection with the missions in the Indian Territory, the work being 
taken over by the Presbyterian Church, which had been for many years 
associated with the Congregational body in the support of the American 
Board, but which already had missions of its own in the Choctaw, Chickasaw 
and Creek nations. When the Presbyterian Church divided, all of the missions 
and followers of that denomination in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations 
went with the Southern branch. In the Creek and Seminole nations and, to 
some extent, in the Cherokee Nation, most of the Presbyterian people 
retained their affiliations with the original or Northern branch of the denomi- 
nation, for a time at least. Indeed, in the two nations first mentioned, Pres- 
byterians who sympathized with the aspirations of the Southern States, quite 
generally withdrew from that denomination and affiliated with the Baptist 
Church. On the other hand, in the Cherokee Nation, the Baptist people, who 
were mostly of the full-blood element, were almost a unit in their support 
of the Federal cause in that great struggle. 

After the end of the war, the Baptist Church was divided geographically, 
regardless of political or sentimental differences, the Indian Territory falling 
within the scope of the Southern Baptist Association, as Oklahoma is to this 
day. The Southern Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church of the U. S.) 
succeeded to the control of the work of that faith among the people of the 
whole Indian Territory, though several former missions were gradually 
reopened by the Northern branch of the church (Presbyterian Church of the 
U.S. A.) in the Creek and Seminole nations. In 1879, the work of supporting 
the missions in this field proving too heavy for the Southern branch of the 


776 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


church, its sister denomination effected an arrangement whereby it was to 
resume its former work in the Indian Territory as fast as workers and means 
could be secured, four ministers being sent to the Choctaw, Creek and Chero- 
kee nations, immediately schools were reopened at each of the mission stations 
thus reéstablished. 

With the removal of other Indian tribes from Kansas, the Roman Catholic 
Church began its work among the people of several Indian tribes, includ- 
ing especially those of the Pottawatomie and Osage tribes and also the 
Quapaw. The first Quakers, or Friends, came in with the Indian agents of 
that faith, during the Grant administration. In the main, however, most 
of the religious work in the Indian Territory remained in the hands of the 
Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist bodies until the opening of the Okla- 
homa country, in 1889. The Methodist Episcopal Church (sometimes mis- 
called ‘““Northern”) began the organization of its work with the institution of 
its Indian Mission Conference, in 1888. 

When the Oklahoma country was opened on April 22, 1889, among the 
pioneers who wrapped themselves in blankets and laid down on the prairie 
turf on the new townsites of Guthrie, Oklahoma City, Kingfisher and the 
other throng-crowded settlements, and looked up into the stars of Heaven, 
were Baptist parsons, Christian (Disciples of Christ) elders, Presbyterian 
domines, Methodist circuit riders and Catholic priests as the representatives 
and forerunners of the faiths that are ever in the van, nor wait for more 
settled or stable conditions. Others might come afterward, when cultural 
conditions were ripe, but these, with a sprinkling of minor denominations of 
related faiths, were the trail blazers—others might follow later, when the 
paths were smoothed, but their place was at the front, with a constructive 
program at the beginning of things. 

Some pessimists bewail the fact that “religious influences are on the 
wane,” yet in Oklahoma, there are bigger churches, stronger congregations, 
more and better attended Sunday schools than ever before in its history. 
Several of its denominations have not only established and are supporting 
institutions of higher education but, as previously stated elsewhere, they 
have a number of hospitals to help alleviate human suffering and to preach 
the gospel of good health and right living. It is a long call from the small, 
plain, pioneer church or chapel to the stately edifices of cathedral-like archi- 
tectural proportions, but it was the spirit that builded the one that laid the 
foundations for the other. Moreover, purity, humility, the spirit of self- 
sacrifice and the contrite heart are just as necessary and just as becoming 
in the great, modern metropolitan temple as ever they were in the homely 
and unpretentious pioneer sanctuary. 


Social Institutions—Oklahoma seemingly has its full share of social, 
educational, professional and intellectual organizations. Its first women’s 
clubs and their Territorial Federation, date away back when everything was 
still in the pioneering period. And such organizations have not been either 
idle or merely nominally constructive in their efforts, their influences or 
their achievements. More often than not, it has been the club women of the 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 717 


community who took the lead in the establishment of the local public library, 
the parks, the playgrounds and other resultant benefits of public spirit and 
organized enterprise. 

Every city and town in the State has its chamber of commerce or other 
similar community organization. These institutions foster and promote the 
efficient coordination of popular effort for community betterment. They take 
the lead in many matters that might otherwise be neglected for, even though 
every intelligent citizen knows what is necessary or expedient yet, as a rule, 
he lacks the influence that would warrant a personal initiative. The earlier 
organizations in this line were rather sorry in comparison with the highly 
developed and systematized institutions which are now exercising such a 
powerful and beneficent influence in community and civic affairs. 

The place of the commercial organizations in the life of the community 
is ably seconded by the active participation of the noon-day luncheon club 
members. These, which are mostly affiliated with nation-wide organizations, 
have been and are very active, not only in aiding the busy citizen to forget 
his own troubles and perplexities, for the time being, but also to get inter- 
ested in the affairs of his fellow man and to make himself useful and agreeable 
and open-minded as a social being. They furnish a forum for the informal 
discussion of matters of popular interest and they surely help to put com- 
munity spirit behind every worthy public undertaking. They make for tol- 
erance, fair-minded regard for differences of opinion and view-point and the 
broadest intelligence in all that pertains to public interests. In this con- 
nection, it is well to remember the beneficial work of the Boy Scout organi- 
zations, world-wide in their distribution and interests and nowhere more 
active or more useful than in Oklahoma. 

Professional, industrial, trade, and occupational organizations are numer- 
ous and well supported. Labor is well organized in most of the larger towns 
and cities and also in the mining regions. Farmers’ organizations have 
flourished at several periods in the history of the State, though popular inter- 
est and support has fluctuated from time to time. The order of the Patrons 
of Husbandry, commonly known as the Grange, has been carrying forward 
its work in Oklahoma for a number of years past, while the Farmers’ Union 
has maintained State and local organizations throughout a period of more 
than twenty-five years. Cooperation among farmers has been the subject of 
much agitation in Oklahoma, especially among wheat growers and cotton 
producers. Other special branches of agricultural industry which have 
formed particular organizations or associations are the livestock, dairy, hcr- 
ticultural, nursery, and poultry interests. Last but not least in importance of 
the organizations which have to do with farm life are those of the “4-H” 
boys and girls, whose activities are revolutionizing living conditions and 
improving the social atmosphere of the farm as well as increasing its pro- 
duction and stabilizing its economic affairs. Moreover, the result of such 
organized efforts is such as to offer great promise for the future of agricul- 
tural industry in Oklahoma, as well as elsewhere. 

Of the patriotic societies and those which depend upon military service 
or upon descent from those who have rendered military or naval service in 


778 OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 


past wars, Oklahoma has its full share. Among these, the Grand Army of 
the Republic, the United Confederate Veterans, the United Spanish War 
Veterans and the American Legion, easily occupy the most popular places 
in public interest and esteem. The ranks of the veterans of the contending 
armies of the great Civil War (no longer enemies, but for many years past, 
neighbors and friends) have been thinned out so rapidly in recent years that 
there remain but few survivors, awaiting the final muster-out and the bugle 
to sound the sadly sweet notes of “taps” for each of them, as it has for the 
comrades who have gone on before them. 

Along with the patriotic societies, there should be mentioned the Okla- 
homa Historical Society, several county and local organizations of like pur- 
poses and aims and numerous “old settlers” organizations and reunions, all 
of which aid in keeping alive a popular appreciation of the pioneers and their 
part in the founding and earlier building of the Commonwealth. In recent 
years, there have been annual gatherings of Indians and people of Indian 
descent in State assemblages, thus evidencing the pride of the descendants of 
a once-primitive race in the achievements of their forebears as pioneers and 
as citizens of the Indian republics which helped to pave the way for the 
development of a great State. 


Fraternal Organizations—Practically all of the secret societies and fra- 
ternities are represented in Oklahoma. The Masonic order dates back to the 
days of the old Indian Territory, before the Civil War, when a very few 
“blue lodges” were organized under charter or dispensation from the Grand 
Lodge of Arkansas. These, however, ceased to exist during that struggle. 
After its close, the process of reorganization was very slow and some years 
passed before there were a sufficient number of lodges organized to make 
possible the institution of a grand lodge. After the settlement of the Okla- 
homa country and the division of the original Indian Territory into two 
territories, a separate jurisdiction, with a new grand lodge, was organized 
in Oklahoma Territory. The organization of the York Rite bodies followed 
in due course and, several years later, a consistory of the Scottish Rite 
was instituted at Guthrie, where a temple, or cathedral, was erected. In more 
recent years, the latter has been superseded by an elaborate and massive 
structure of white marble, of classic architectural design, and costing over 
$3,000,000. After the admission of Oklahoma as a state, a second Scottish 
Rite consistory was instituted and located at McAlester. The Masonic grand 
lodge maintains an extensive home for aged members of the order, and for 
the widows and orphans of Masons, at Guthrie. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows instituted lodges in some of the 
towns of the Indian Territory and in all of the principal towns of Oklahoma 
Territory, with organizations for the advanced degrees in the larger cities. 
Before the admission of Oklahoma into the Federal Union, the Oklahoma 
Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows had located and 
established a home for aged or disabled members and for widows and 
orphans of members, at Carmen. The Knights of Pythias also instituted 
lodges throughout both territories, with grand lodges. With the dawning 


OKLAHOMA—STATE AND PEOPLE 779 


of statehood, the grand lodges of all of the fraternal orders were merged into 
single organizations for the entire State. The Knights of Columbus has 
flourishing lodges in all communities where the Roman Catholic Church has 
a strong constituency. Practically all of the secret fraternal societies have 
women’s auxiliaries. In the case of the Masonic bodies, there are juvenile or 
junior societies as well. 

The cooperative life insurance organizations, which are organized along 
the lines of fraternal secret societies, are numerous and well organized. In 
their way, these have been of material benefit, in many instances wherein 
the old line insurance companies might have been passed up. It is noticeable 
that, however altruistic the aims of such organizations at their inception and 
during the earlier period of their respective activities, sooner or later, they 
have had to study well the estimates and conclusions of the professional 
actuaries and, ultimately, in most instances, to revise their rates to a measure 
of conformity therewith. ; 

Although Oklahoma, as a State, is nearing the end of the first quarter of 
a century of its existence as a self-governing commonwealth, its social con- 
ditions, institutions, ideals, traditions and precedents have not yet entirely 
emerged from the formative period. Indeed, in most of the other and older 
States, the period of formative development was much longer than that 
which has elapsed since the settlement of Oklahoma. That there should have 
been some measure of shortcoming in the attainment of cultural and ethical 
ideals, during the period of pioneering, was only to be expected, since a cross- 
section of human nature, within its geographic limits, has not been materially 
different from that of neighboring States. Much yet remains to be done 
before the ideals with which the minds and hearts of its most constructive 
leaders have been inspired can be achieved. There have been obstacles, natural 
and artificial, in the path to such an end and, what is more, there will be 
opposition to every measure and movement which has for its purpose the 
betterment of the commonweal, but the leaven of progress and civic right- 
eousness is here and, in due time, it will make manifest its influence and 
power. 


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APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX VIII—1. 


ITEMS ON EARLY DAY STEAMBOATS ON 
THE ARKANSAS 


Beginning with 1828 the “Arkansas Gazette” (Little 
Rock, Arkansas) gives items from time to time con- 
cerning the “Facility” and other steamboats with 
Captain Pennywit master: 

“The steamer ‘Facility,’ Captain Pennywit, arrived 
at this place, on Saturday morning last, from New 
Orleans, bound for Cantonment Gibson. In conse- 
quence of the present low stage of the river, we 
understand she will remain until the water rises suf- 
ficiently to admit of her proceeding on her voyage.”’— 
February 3, 1829. 

“A sufficient stage of water on the river permitted 
the ‘Facility’ to get under way to Cantonment Gib- 
son, on Saturday, March 7th. She grounded on a sand- 
bar, between forty and fifty miles below her destina- 
tion and had to wait for another rise.”—March 25, 1829. 

“The steamboat ‘Facility,’ Captain Pennywit, ar- 
rived at this place, on Wednesday last (April 8th), 
with a full load of furs, peltries, hides, cotton, &c, &c, 
bound for New Orleans. About dark the same eve- 
ning, the steamboat ‘James O’Hara,’ Captain Stewart, 
arrived at our landing, from Louisville, with a cargo 
of provisions for the U. S. troops at Canton Gibson 
and 65 Cherokees (all, however, nearly white) who 
are emigrating from the Old Nation, east of the Mis- 
Sissippi, to the Cherokee Nation on the Arkansas. 
At the time that these boats arrived, the Arkansas 
was at so low a stage as to make it quite certain that 
the ‘James O’Hara’ (which draws about six feet of 
water when loaded) could not reach her destination 
without a very considerable rise of water, of which 
there was but little prospect. In consequence of this, 
an exchange of cargoes was proposed with the ‘Fa- 
cility,’ which was acceded to and both boats com- 
menced discharging’ on the following morning and 
completed reloading on Saturday. The ‘James O’Hara’ 
left here, for New Orleans, on Saturday afternoon, 
with one of the most valuable cargoes of furs, pel- 
tries, hides, cotton, &c, &c, that we presume, has 
ever left Arkansas. We have heard no estimate made 
of its value and have no data by which to form one 
ourselves. It, however, must be very large. The ‘Fa- 
cility’ left here, about ten o’clock Saturday night, 
for Cantonment Gibson with a full cargo of provi- 
sions for the troops at that post, and has left here 
sufficient freight for another load. She also took on 
board the Cherokees who came up on the ‘James 
O’Hara.’ It is probable from the present stage of the 
river, that she will perform her trip in a week.”’— 
April 15, 1829. 

“When the steamboat ‘Facility’ undertook to de- 
liver the cargo of the ‘James O’Hara’ to Fort Gibson, 
the stage of water became so low in the river that 
the freight had to be landed at the mouth of the 
Sallissaw. The ‘Facility’ then returned to Little Rock 
to take on board the rest of the ‘James O’Hara’s’ 
cargo, arriving there, April 22d and, after reloading, 
got under way up stream the following day.’’—April 
29, 1829. 

“The steamboat ‘Facility’, Captain Pennywit, suc- 
ceeded in landing her last above mentioned cargo at 
Cantonment Gibson and, returning, arrived at Little 
Rock May 10th—May 13, 1829. Meanwhile the ‘James 
O’Hara’ had arrived from New Orleans and had dis- 
charged her cargo to be reshipped farther upstream 
on the ‘Facility,’ which got under way for Canton- 
ment Gibson on the evening of May 11th. She arrived 
at Little Rock on the morning of May 24th and left 
in the afternoon of the same day for New Orleans.— 
May 27, 1829. She arrived on her return voyage from 
New Orleans, on the evening of June 16th, laden with 
a keel-boat in tow having on board several Cherokee 
mixed-blood families from the Old Nation, who were 
emigrating to the new Cherokee Nation on the 


Arkansas. She got under way to continue her up- 
stream voyage, in the evening of the following day 
but had to unload at Dardanelles, because of the low 
stage of water in the river. She left Little Rock on 
foes nonin of June 24th, for Louisville.’—June 24, 

“In the autumn of 1829, Captain Philip Pennywit, 
pioneer navigator of the upper Arkansas, purchased 
a new boat, the ‘Waverly,’ with which he descended 
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from Louisville to 
New Orleans in October, 1829, and announcing that 
the craft would be placed in the Arkansas River trade 
up »n return voyage up the Mississippi. The ‘Waverly’ 
arrived at Little Rock, on the evening of November 
26, 1829, on her initial voyage up the Arkansas, carry- 
ing freight and passengers for points as far up as 
Cantonment Gibson, but finding the stage of water in 
the river insufficient, finally unloaded at Little Rock 
and started back to New Orleans.’—January 1 and 9, 
1829. 

“Captain Pennywit’s steamboat, the ‘Waverly,’ on 


‘her second voyage from New Orleans, arrived at Little 


Rock, December 22, 1829, having made the round trip 
down and return in a few hours over twenty days. 
She left the next morning for Cantonment Gibson.’— 
December 238, 1829. 

“The ‘Waverly’ left Little Rock for New Orleans, 
January 2, 1830, having failed to reach Fort Smith, 
had landed its cargo at Morrison’s Bluff. The steam- 
boat ‘Industry,’ Captain Johnson, and the ‘Waverly,’ 
Captain Pennywit, arrived in Little Rock on the 26th 
and 27th of January, 1830, respectively. In addition 
to freight cargoes and some white immigrant passen- 
gers, each carried about two hundred Cherokee im- 
migrants, bound from the Old Nation, east of the 
Mississippi, to the new Cherokee country on the upper 
Arkansas,’”’—February 2, 1830. ‘“‘Both vessels were de- 
tained by the low water less than fifty miles above 
Little Rock. Both boats finally reached Fort Smith, 
where the ‘Industry’ discharged her cargo. She left 
Little Rock, bound down stream, March 10, 1830. The 
‘Waverly’ was reported still waiting a rise in the 
stage of the river that would enable her to proceed 
to Cantonment Gibson.’’—March 16, 1830. 

“The steamboat ‘Amulet,’ Captain Potter, arrived at 
Little Rock, from Pittsburgh, March 15, 1830, with 
contractors’ supplies for Cantonment Gibson, also 
carrying ninety white immigrants for western Arkan- 
sas. The steamboat ‘Industry’ arrived from the mouth 
of White River, two days later, carrying about 
seventy-five emigrating Cherokees who were to settle 
in the new Cherokee country.’—March 23, 1830. “The 
‘Industry’ and the ‘Waverly’ passed Little Rock, 
March 22d, down stream—the ‘Industry’ bound for the 
mouth of the White River and the ‘Waverly’ for New 
Orleans. The ‘Amulet’ passed down the next day, 
bound for the mouth of White River, whence she re- 
turned to Little Rock on the 28th with another cargo 
of contractors’ supplies and also sixty Cherokees 
emigrating from their old country to the new Chero- 
kee Nation west of Arkansas.’—March 30, 1830. “The 
‘Amulet’ reached Little Rock, from Cantonment Gib- 
son, April 14th, and left a few hours later for New 
Orleans. The ‘Waverly,’ ten days out from New Or- 
leans, reached Little Rock on the following day, bound 
for Fort Smith and Cantonment Gibson.’’—April 20, 
1830. “The ‘Waverly’ returned from Fort Smith, April 
21st, and passed on to the mouth of White River. 
The ‘Waverly’ arrived at Little Rock, with a full 
eargo, much of which was unloaded April 26th, and 
the rest taken on up to Cantonment Gibson. The 
‘Industry’ passed Little Rock, bound from Cantonment 
Gibson for the Mississippi, April 29th.’—May 2, 1830. 
“The ‘Waverly’ passed Little Rock, May 6th, en voy- 
age from Cantonment Gibson to New Orleans. The 
‘Industry’ passed Little Rock, bound from the mouth 
of White River to Cantonment Gibson.’—May 11, 1830. 
“The ‘Waverly’ passed Cantonment Gibson June 2d, en 
voyage to the mouth of White River, and arrived at 


784 


Little Rock on the return voyage to Fort Gibson, 
heavily laden with cargo, on June 8th.’—June 8, 1830. 

“The steamboat ‘Waverly,’ Captain Pennywit, left 
our landing about noon, on Tuesday last (June 8th) 
and returned thence at sunrise this morning. After a 
detention of two or three hours, she departed at sun- 
rise this morning for the mouth of White River and 
may be expected back on another trip to Cantonment 
Gibson, on Sunday next.’—June 15, 1830. 

“The steamboat ‘Waverly,’ Captain Pennywit, ar- 
rived here on Saturday night last, with a full freight, 
from the mouth of White River, and departed the next 
morning for Cantonment Gibson. We understand that 
the ‘Waverly’ will make one more trip (after the 
present one) from the mouth of White River to Can- 
tonment Gibson, after which she will proceed to 
Louisville.’—June 22, 1830. 

“The steamboat ‘Waverly,’ Captain Pennywit, ar- 
rived at this place on Thursday afternoon, from Mc- 
Lean’s bottom, Crawford County (being unable to 
proceed farther in consequence of the low stage of 
the river), and, after stopping an hour or two for 
freight and passengers, departed for the mouth of 
White River. She may be looked for back, about the 
middle of this week, and will depart hence for Louis- 
ville, about the 5th of next month.’’—June 29, 1830. 

“The steamboat ‘Neosho,’ Captain P. Pennywit, 
arrived on Wednesday evening, last, from Cincinnati, 
with two keel-boats in tow. After discharging her 
cargo (finding the river too low for her to proceed 
higher up), she left on Friday evening for the mouth 
of White River. She may be expected back in a day 
or two and will proceed up the river if its stage will 
admit of her doing so. 

“The ‘Neosho’ is one of the finest boats of her class. 
Her burthen is ninety tons and draught about twenty- 
four inches when light, and about three feet when 
loaded. She has a spacious, airy and comfortable 
cabin for the accommodation of passengers. She is 
intended exclusively for the trade of the Arkansas 
River, and in connection with the steamboat ‘Arkan- 
sas’ (which will run on to the Mississippi), will form 
a line between the several landings on our river and 
New Orleans, exchanging freight at the mouth of 
Arkansas and White rivers.’’-—December 2, 1834. 

“ ‘Neosho,’ Pennywit, down, July 27, 1835, from Fort 
Gibson to Cincinnati.” 

The “Arkansas Gazette” for February 14, 1837, gave 
an account of the loss of the “Neosho,” which was 
snagged near Thedford’s landing, February 7, and a 
statement concerning the same, by the passengers. 


APPENDIX VIII—2. 
THE UPPER RED RIVER COUNTRY. 


Garrett Igo, called on behalf of Oklahoma and 
United States, testified: 

Iam 80 years old, and have lived in this country 
Since 1848. In 1848 I came to Red River County, 
Texas, and located at Clarksville, which is about 
twenty miles from Red River. I was frequently at 
the steamboat landing at old Rowland, before the 
Civil War. My first adventure on the river was in the 
sixties. I first ran a steamboat then. I have been 
up and down Red River from the mouth to the head; 
from the Panhandle and the Staked Plains to where 
it empties into the Mississippi. I traveled to the lower 
reaches of the river by steamboat only. We consid- 
ered the Kiamichi the head of navigation; from there 
we went in wagons. In 1854 I was at Bonham and 
Sherman. Thirty years ago I went to the head waters 
up in the Staked Plains, with some surveyors, in the 
Greer County case. I was a witness in the Greer 
County case. Since I first knew the river many cut- 
offs have occurred. There were no hills on this side 
of the river until the Kiamichi was reached. The 
valleys were from one to two miles wide. They were 
rich, fertile sandy land, chocolate in color, and some 
red clay looking land. The wider valleys were on 
the Oklahoma side. 

Cut banks occur by the land caving off and leaving 
a bluff. The top of the first bank is generally con- 
sidered forty feet above the bed of the river at low 
water. 

Sand-bars occur on the river opposite cut banks; 
some of them are a half and some three-quarters of 
a mile wide; these slope back to the Texas bluff. Cot- 


APPENDIX 


tonwood first grows on these bars; it grows very 
quickly. 

Where Red River is now, fifty years ago there were 
good farms. Changes take place by the sloughing off 
of one bank, and the building of sand-bars on the 
other. After a rise the sandbars will appear higher 
towards the bank; they appear on the side opposite 
from that on which the sloughing off takes place. 
One difference in the river when I first knew it in 
1866, and now, is the number of the Texas side. An- 
other is, there is less rain now than then. Then a boat 
could usually navigate more than two or three months 
in a season; there is not now so much water. 

Along about old Preston there were high banks on 
both sides. A rock formation was underneath the 
bank, and they did not cave off up there, but farther 
west the country was mostly prairie, and the banks 
were low and fiat. When I first knew the river it 
had small low banks, some places there would be 
islands in the middle of the river in low water. These 
islands were formed by sand catching on an obstruc- 
tion and dividing the current; there are a number of 
islands adjacent to this county. There were cutoffs at 
Steamboat Bend, Big Eddy Bend, and Nine-Mile Line, 
as we called it then. These cutoffs occur by the 
river forming in a horseshoe shape, and then cutting 
through at the heel. Several of them have occurred 
within my memory. In the main they have been cut 
off from the Texas side. In the early days McCurtain 
County was known as Red River County, Choctaw 
Nation. The big Eddy cutoff occurred in 1872. The 
1866 cutoff was in front of old Rowland, Texas, and 
cut off from the Texas side to the Oklahoma side in 
1866. The next cutoff was at Johnson, which cut off 
the Texas side, up close to Albion, in 1888 I think. 
Another cutoff occurred up the river above Albion; I 
cannot give you the name of it. I know from tradi- 
tion that the Horseshoe bend cut off from the Texas 
side to the Oklahoma side. This occurred before I 
came to Texas in 1847. 

I navigated Red River from 1866 to 1874. I was 
captain on the “Belle Crook,’ which was in 1866. I was 
on the “J. L. Briley’’ in 1872 and 1873. I made a trip or 
two on the “R. T. Briley,’ which was put on in 1876, 
These boats ran from Fulton, Arkansas, to the mouth 
of the Kiamichi, which was then considered the head 
of navigation. They were nearly altogether stern 
wheel boats, drawing about four feet of water, and 
carrying 1,000 bales of cotton. They were nearly all 
flat bottom boats, There were a number of other 
boats on the river during that time. We generally 
ran from January up until April. About half a bank 
stage was required to run a boat. When they were 
not_in use they were tied up either at Fulton or New 
Orleans. The boats would go through to New Orleans 
once or twice in a season. There was a raft in the 
river at Fulton which was sometimes very difficult 
to get through. It would take about ten days to make 
the round trip from the mouth of the Kiamichi to 
New Orleans. We waited for water to come from the 
staked plains. The local rains here did not do much 
good. There was more water down at Fulton, Arkan- 
sas. We freighted molasses, whiskey, and groceries 
up Red River before there were any railroads; that 
was our business, to sell the farmers, and we took 
back cotton, cottonseed and salt. We usually tied 
them up when there was no freight to carry. In very 
low water we had to sound the bottom frequently 
for bars, by sending a skiff out in front to take a 
sounding. In low waters we went very slowly, because 
if we stuck on a sandbar we might stay there a week 
or a month. This did not occur very often. I have 
known of boats to be snagged and sunk. The “Ham 
Howell’ was one such, and the ‘“Clevis’” another. At 
the old Rowland landing I have seen as many as four 
big sidewheel steamboats there at one time, some of 
which would take 1,700 bales of cotton. We had a 
great deal more water in the seventies than we have 
now. Those large boats ran then. 

When the railroads were built, the steamboats were 
put out of business for commercial purposes except 
an occasional cottonseed boat. I saw one or two big 
trading boats in 1906. I saw the Government dredge 
boat once or twice when it was up in this country. 

Red River has been considered a navigable stream 
only in the winter season. We could not compete with 
railroads. It has been twenty years since I have 
observed Red River except to cross it at different 


STEAMBOAT ADVERTISEMENT IN CHEROKEE ADVOCATE, 1845 STEAMBOAT ADVERTISEMENTS IN A 
FORT SMITH NEWSPAPER, 1850 


APPENDIX 


points. We could navigate some localities of it now 
by hip high water, if we did not have the rail- 
roads. 

I have seen the river rise eighteen feet in one night. 
I think the river is usually at its highest about the 
15th of May. I have seen head rises occur on the 
river. We might have had more trips from Fulton to 
the mouth of the Kiamichi, but there was nothing to 
earry out; after we got all the cotton, there was no 
occasion to go back. 

I know from tradition that the highest water on the 
river occurred in 1892. There was a very big rise in 
1866 and another in 1888; the biggest overflow in a 
good many years occurred in 1908. 

The banks on either side of the river are mostly 
sand. There is a rock bank at Mound City, and an- 
other bluff bank at Albion, though Albionis nowa long 
ways from the river. A farm has gone into the river 
at the old Albion steamboat landing. Opposite a cut 
bank a bar appears. These bars range from a quarter 
to half a mile, gradually rising from the river. On 
the edge of these bars the soil is pure sand, but in 
four or five years, cottonwood growth changes it, and 
cultivation makes other changes. There is now a fine 
farm in front of Mound City, and one in front of the 
old Rowland, of 200 acres, where the bed of Red 
River was before the Civil War. The overflows left 
rich deposits; this sediment deposits, then the sand 
makes land fit for cultivation. 

Cross-examination: 

Where the river runs against the bank it is per- 
pendicular, of clay foundation. Rock banks appear 
only at one or two places, and there the hills come 
into the river sometimes on both sides. Hills run 
along back of the valleys on both sides. They are 
two or three miles back from the river on the Okla- 
homa side, and are closer to the river on the Texas 
side. Where the river is now, a mile from where it 
was fifty years ago, the valley has been gradually 
built up by a gradual formation. My daughter lost a 
one hundred-acre farm which caved in on the Texas 
side of the river. The river there cut away the resi- 
dence, farm and all, and made a great beach on this 
side. It was a gradual process; it had first been 
built over there, and then cut off and thrown back on 
this side. This made land is composed of sand, salt 
and clay. Logs sometimes catch the drift. The sedi- 
ment is generally in the eddies and back washes. The 
banks when I first knew the river were more per- 
pendicular than they are now. Cane brakes grew 
right down to the waters’ edge, but as the land has 
been cultivated, it caves worse. The roots of the cane 
and timber seem to hold the land better. It was a 
mistake for the Government to cut the timber off the 
land. I have known as much as five acres of timber 
land to go in at one time because of the river cutting it, 
and there was quicksand underneath. My daughter’s 
house slipped into the river when the river was a 
hundred yards from it; the river was cutting under- 
neath in the quicksand. 

I once owned a Spanish grant. When we attempted 
to resurvey its lines, there were 444 acres of the sur- 
vey, we missed the corner one hundred and fifty yards. 
This grant fronted on Red River. I knew of a suit 
tried by Judge Gaines; the patent called for the bank 
of Red River, and he won nearly a half mile of land 
that had been built by gradual formation. The cut 
banks are formed by the water running against them. 
ene banks are not so high as you get further up the 
river. 

I have seen one keel boat on Red River. That was 
just a hull of an old boat that had been used. It was 
at old Rowland. I knew from tradition that it came 
up about 1834. Keel boats were used in navigation 
before the invention of steamboats. Keel boats and 
row boats were operated before the coming of steam- 
boats. They drew about three feet of water. I have 
operated flat boats on Red River where a cotton boat 
sank, and took the cotton off with flat boats. We 
used our steamboats as trading boats, bringing up 
sugar, coffee, molasses, ete., and buying beef, cotton 
and cottonseed. These trading boats operated on the 
river until the railroads came; after that, whiskey 
boats continued to come up the river. I have been 
up to old Preston twice, in 1849 and in 1909. These 
upper Red River boats carried from 800 to 1,000 bales 
of cotton; they were flat bottomed boats, one hundred 
feet long, and thirty or forty feet wide. Thirty feet 
was the average. Most of the boats running on the 


Okla—50 


785 


river were stern-wheel boats. In my judgment the 
river was deeper, ond there was more water prior to 
’70 than thereafter. The steamboats had no effect on 
the sandbars. The “Ham Howell,” the “R. T. Briley,” 
the “Bonnie Lee” and the “Royal George” ran after 
the Civil War. I remember Ben Kuntz and John 
Kuntz. Their boats were called the Kuntz lines. The 
“ra” and the “New Era” both ran before the Civil 
War. The Kuntz line and the Morgan line ran up and 
down upper Red River; they had a number of boats 
running on upper Red River along in this section of 
the country. I remember a boat called the “Red River 
Planter’; it ran on the river in this. section of the 
country. Captain Cheatham ran the “Frontier’’; he 
had a salt works up on the Kiamichi River, and ran 
another boat called “The Southern.” I remember a 
boat called the “Francis Jones,” and the “R. M. Jones,” 
and the ‘Walla Busha.” The “Jones” boat was built to 


haul cotton off of the old Shawneetown farm. I re- 
member a boat called the “Jim Turner.” 
People living along Red River in those days 


marketed their crops from October until along in the 
spring. During the summer months there was nothing 
up here for boats to haul out. During the fall and 
spring when there was anything to ship out, and the 
river was at the correct stage, the boats would come 
up and take it out. The boats brought merchants’ 
goods to Clarksville, Sherman and Honey Grove. Pas- 
sengers came on those boats. Except for conveyance 
by wagon from Shreveport and Gains’ Landing, the 


‘navigation of Red River by boat was the only means 


of commerce for this section of the country. It was 
a matter of debate whether the removal of the raft in 
Louisiana did more to hinder or help the navigation 
of Red River up along the Texas border; some thought 
it made the water shallower, and some thought it 
helped. I remember a steamboat by the name of the 
“Oliver” that ran to Clarksville, Texas. Fort Towson 
is just a little east of the Kiamichi River. Boats some- 
times went a mile up the Kiamichi River to get 
Cotton. 

When I first came to this country, in 1847, there 
was a great deal of timber growing in the valleys on 
Red River, both on the Oklahoma and the Texas side. 
Cottonwood, walnut, hickory, pecan, ash, sycamore, 
gum and bois d’are. I have seen cottonwood trees 
that were five feet in diameter. I have seen a walnut 
tree that was four feet in diameter; that walnut log 
sold for $900.00. These valleys on both sides of Red 
River have changed only by the timber being removed, 
and the land being put in cultivation. The majority 
of it is good soil. 

When I came here thousands of deer, turkey and 
bear were in the river bottoms; this game was hunted, 
and after 1870 there was a regular game market at 
Clarksville, Texas. Deer skins and bear skins were 
shipped out of the country. The river was full of 
fish then. I have known of a one hundred and twenty- 
five pound cat fish that was caught out of Red River. 
I have known of men who fished commercially. 

Redirect examination: 

The raft I have spoken of as being in the river was 
about four miles below the Arkansas line. 

Recross-examination: 

The islands I have spoken of as being in the river 
were little sandbars which were formed by sand drift- 
ing up against a snag. 

Redirect examination: 

During the days when crops and commodities were 
moved by boat, it was the custom to hold the early 
picked cotton until the water permitted the boats to 
come up for it. Cotton would be picked and ginned 
from September to March. Passengers were accus- 
tomed to travel on the boats to a small extent, new- 
comers coming to this country. Travel by boat was 
uncertain only in the winter season, and sometimes 
there would be a month between the arrival of one 
boat and another. Whiskey was frequently sold to 
the Indians from the whiskey boats on the river, but 
it was sold on both banks of the river. I knew of 
one boat that was tied up on a sandbar to evade the 
United States officers. I never knew of any whiskey 
being seized when the boat was on the Texas side of 
the river. The trade of the character and species I 
speak of did not go very far above Arthur City. 
Arthur City is twenty-five miles north of Paris, Texas, 
When I first came to this country there were very 
few white people living on the Oklahoma side of the 


786 


river, and the fishing and hunting was done prin- 
cipally by Texas citizens. 

Further crcess-examination: 

The cotton would be stored in warehouses on the 
river, after it was picked and ginned, waiting for the 
fall rises to come so the boats could come up and get 
it, and the boats continued to come up as long as there 
was cotton and the water was suitable. 

Redirect examination: 

The rainy season of the West generally began to 
set in the latter part of January. I was on Red River 
in 1866 and 1862, a month or two each year before 
January. The fall rises occurred those years. There 
were other rises which occurred nearly every winter, 
but the river did not stay up long enough to boat any 
except these years I have mentioned, during the time 
I was running a boat on the river. 

In the Supreme Court cf the United States, October 
Term, 1921. No. 20,. Original. The State of Oklahoma, 
Complainant, vs. The State of Texas, Defendant; the 
United States of America, Intervener. Volume IV, pp. 
1587-92. 

APPENDIX VIII—3. 


ITEMS APPEARING IN THE CHOCTAW INTELLI- 
GENCER, DOAKSVILLE, CHOCTAW NATION. 


CHEAP CASH STORE 
BETHELET & JONES 


We have been receiving goods of every description 
from New Orleans, since the commencement of the 
season, until we have attained as large and general a 
stock of goods as any house in the Nation. And we 
are determined, having bought out goods at the very 
lowest cash prices, not to be undersold by any other 
house. We have a large assortment of 


DRY GOODS 


such as French, English and American Prints, Mous- 
line de Laines, Alpacas, Ginghams, Chintzes, Jacko- 
nets, Sheetings, Choctaw Stripes, plain, fancy and 
striped Domestics, a heavy lot of red, green, blue and 
White Blankets, Casimeres, Satinnetto, Vestings, 
Laces, Ribbons, Braids, Ladies,’ Fancy, etc. We also 
have a large stock of 


GROCERIES 


Consisting in part of loaf, crushed and brown Sugar, 
Rio and Laguira Coffee, Teas, Molassas, Pepper, Salt, 
Spices, ete., ete. Our stock of 


HARDWARE 


Cutlery, Hollow Ware, Tin Ware, Glass, Earthen, 
Crockery and Queens Ware is quite extensive. 


BOOTS AND SHOES 


Our assortment is very extensive, among which may 
be found Partridge’s water proof Boots, Calf Boots, 
pegged and sewed Calf Kip, Russett and Seal Brogans., 


SLIPPERS AND PUMPS 
Ladies Kid, Morocco, Calf Slippers and walking shoes. 
SADDLERY 


We also have a large stock of ladies and gentlemen’s 
Saddles, also Bridles, collars, Traces, etc. 

We invite our old customers and friends, and the 
public generally to call and price our goods, and we 
are satisfied they will not leave without dealing as we 
are determined to sell our goods at the very lowest 
living rates for cash. 


BETHELET & JONES 


Red Store No. 5 Commercial Row 
—Choctaw Intelligencer (Doaksville, Choctaw Na- 
tion), Wednesday, Oct. 15, 1851. 

The same issue of the “Intelligencer” stated that 
the price of steamer passage from New Orleans to 
Alexandria was $20.00. The usual price in good navi- 
gation was $5.00 or $6.00. 

In the same issue the following items appear: 


MORE NEW GOODS 


Our frisncés, Messrs. Bethelet & Jones have just 
received from Shreveport, nine wagon loads of goods. 
Call and see them. 

OTHER ADVERTISEMENTS INCLUDE 


Proposals for furnishing corn at Fort Towson, was 
opened on Saturday last, and awarded as follows: 


APPENDIX 


S. Folsom 3,000 bushels at 95 cents per bushel. 
Bethelet & Jones 3,000 bushels at 98 cents. 
Robert M. Jones 500 at 87% cents. 


NEW GOODS 
P. COLBERT 


Has just received per steamers “Texas” and “Woods- 
man,” a large stock of well selected and seasonable 
goods which he will sell as low as any other house in 
the place. 

The following are a few among the leading articles: 


500 pieces assorted Calicoes, 
American prints. 
20 pieces Jackonette. 
% doz. faney new style Lawns. 
% doz. Mourning do. 
% doz. pieces Irish Linen. 
Linen sheeting, 12-4 wide. 
5 pieces unbleached sheeting, 12-4 wide. 
2 doz. fine Jenny Lind Skirts. 
1 doz. Mohair do. 
20 pieces Ginghams. 
25 pieces assorted bleached Skirting. 
75 pieces assorted Cottonades. 
% dozen pieces fancy Tweeds. 
4 doz. linen Table Cloths. 
4 doz. Napkins. 
6 doz. linen Towels assorted. 
2 doz. Russion Diaper. 
30 pieces ass’d. silk Hdkfs. 
30 bales Domestic, assorted. 
4 
10 
2 


French, English and 


bales Choctaw stripes. 
bales Blankets, assorted. 
bales Spun Cotton. 
Parasols, Handkerchiefs, Cravats, Shovels, 
Gloves, Cord, Hosiery, Thread, Shell combs, ass’d., 
15 boxes Tobacco, Jenny Lind, Rose Dunbar, Bell, 
Buena Vista and Lewis Cass brands. 
50 sacks Rio Coffee. 
40 bbls. Sugar, crushed and loaf do. 
7 bbls. N. O. Molasses. 
2 bbls. Sugar House do. ° 
4% bbls. No. 1 Mackerel. 
30 bbls. Flour. 
4 bbls. Vinegar. 
100 sacks Salt. 
1 cask Rice. 
6 boxes Star Candles. 
4 boxes Sperm Candles. 
2 boxes Vermicelli. 
6 boxes Soda Crackers. 
4 boxes Sardines. 
3 boxes Lemon Syrup. 
2 boxes Salaeratus. 
2 boxes Pearl Starch. 
5,000 Cigars, regalia, principe, ete. 
25 bags assorted Shot. 
10 kegs Powder. 
4 tons assorted Iron. 
A general assortment of Hardware and cutlery. 
A large assortment of glass. 
Queens and Crockery Ware. 
12 cases assorted Shoes and Boots. 


Our old customers and others will do well to call and 
examine for themselves before purchasing elsewhere, 
as we are satisfied that our prices will suit them. 

Ss. FOLSOM, Agent. 
—Ibid., Wednesday, October 15, 1851. 


FOR CASH SALES ONLY. 
DOAKSVILLE PRODUCE 


MARKET 
CORT calibre ienn tak savor dy aeeie Levene Boat ee eer en one oLe atte $1.00 per bushel 
FOGG OL. aie sere hevhice taal eros eis. ian whos reas .02 per bundles 
Oats Giles caus upketee ola tistsl duisi'sl ie otece hike oe .75 per bushel 
Trish Potatoes ianiciee sclera sletsaerarepe eter .75 per bushel 
Sweet, Potatoes icra sisieis ole wictelomustetend .50 per bushel 
Taltin esd Aas ra whiten oe a sebte acai wens ete aneietena $ .50 per bushel 
Lumbervat the Wills a5, 2 ccs arr ee tae) LOO. IM. 
Bacon aaaie ver stoes TAS hie E evemuagens i 12% cts 
BU tCE Rigs a eccreis eheaeeteat cia Oe APU vite A 12% cts 
Chichkendy ertire vc sila seemed svemiete wae 1.50 doz. 
Bcbpeg ats CAPO AT ys UO bei eis vere wires ete retate or eeets 12% cts. doz. 
Mealy.) Susmpam Sick = lone in SAUhe) oe © Yaraterts) ema eraer els 1.00 per bushel 


APPENDIX 


GROCERIES 

PRC PeP IVT ATO. cletsiieis\ 61.5) onesa, ares $16 eve e'siaiscavaresé 912% 
mores per Ib. -.:.. ARRAS SOS VEC ERG RPS 
IIGIASSES \.. cece oe eie's Sickel on eity om i erate ech ong tony - 60to 62 
MTR DOr SACK, COBTSE 4... i cece ca salen tigate 4.00 
MURINE T I eRereie ein i clays cs (el sie' ss boaters dicks wha.eiae- or 8 to 10 cts. 
ESYUMMateT IG diclase's o's ais.4%6 0's 'o s'6 ah eS Sil ty aserenaiere 8 to 10 cts 
PUMN EMR ea eae cl suntsly (coset sie ew Sevens ela Sa ; 8 to 10 cts 

—lIbi 

The “Choctaw Intelligencer’ is published every 


Wednesday in English and Choctaw. Terms—Only 
Two Dollars per year. Invariably in advance. L. D. 
Alsobrook & J. G. Wright, Editors and Proprietors, 


APPENDIX VIII—4. 


A VISIT TO ABEL WARREN’S TRADING POST, 
ON RED RIVER. 


Abel Warren, a resident of Fort Smith, had a trad- 
ing post on the Red River. It was surrounded by a 
strong, heavy picket or palisade of logs planted in 
the ground, about fifteen feet high. On two of the 
corners were log towers (or blockhouses) with port- 
holes which covered the approach to the palisade 
walls on the outside. These log towers, or bastions, 
were about twelve feet square and were furnished 
with sleeping bunks for the men. In each there were 
a dozen musKets and rifles, always loaded—the mus- 
kets with buckshot for fighting at close range. On two 
sides of the enclosure there were strong gates for the 
ingress and egress of stock and wagon trains. Sheds 
and warehouses were built around the inside walls of 
the palisade and there was a corral for stock on the 
prairie outside. 

“A stay of a few weeks at Warren’s Fort gave the 
writer some insight into the trade and life of the post. 
The year round was occupied mostly in trade with 
small parties of Indians in the various tribes—Coman- 
ches, Kiowas, Wichitas, Tonkawas, Caddoes and Dela- 
wares. The stock was driven out of the fort corral at 
daylight to be herded on the prairie, in sight of the 
watchman on the tower, and was driven in and cor- 
ralled at nightfall. There were eight white men and 
four Delaware Indians in the little garrison, in addi- 
tion to which there were generally a few hunters and 
friendly Indians in the immediate vicinity. No danger 
was apprehended as the fort was strong enough to 
withstand an attack from any but a very large band 
of Indians of a known desperate character and, even 
then, if such an attack were successful, it would be a 
fearful sacrifice in killed and wounded among the 
attacking party. The Indians of the wild tribes of the 
Plains knew this and they always ignored game that 
was not worth the candle. A few men in each tower, 
with their stacks of muskets ready loaded, could make 
terrible havoc in a horde of savages, most of whom 
Were armed only with bows and arrows and lances. 

“Tt was in the fall of the year and great droves of 
buffalo were making their way to the plains of South- 
western Texas, away from the blizzards of the North- 
ern Plains country. Some of the droves passed within 
a short distance of the fort and it was necessary to 
keep the stock corralled in order to prevent a stam- 
pede and loss. To a tenderfoot such scenes furnished 
an exciting novelty. The buffalo would rush along in 
compact masses, with tails erect, for a mile and then 
check up and radiate from the center, grazing upon 
the sun-cured grasses of the plain. After a while 
they would close up and rush forward again, drove 
after drove. They were three days passing in sight 
of the fort. Scores of Indians were in the rear, the 
men charging into the herds, with bows and arrows 
and lances, and the women and boys catching and 
Killing the crippled and the weakling calves. 

“A few days afterward, we were aroused one morn- 
ing by whoops and yells and the tramping of horses 
around the enclosure. Several hundred Comanches had 
arrived and many were setting up their buffalo skin 
lodges close by the fort. Young men dashed around 
on horseback, old women were shrieking, and children 
were chattering and playing. Little columns of ‘slow 
rising smoke’ were seen above the gypsy kettles sus- 
pended from tripod sticks. Young women were ‘tot- 
ing’ water in water skins on their backs, while other 
girls led ponies laden with calf-skin water bags. 
Women were stretching and pegging buffalo skins on 
the ground and scraping them. Others were unload- 
ing buffalo meat from the ponies and cutting it in 


787 


slices for frying. Many of the young men were stak- 
ing out their horses and rubbing them. Old digni- 
taries stood around, smoking and waiting for the 
kettle to stew. Our stock of horses and cattle were 
driven from the corral into the enclosure, where they 
were secured in the sheds inside, and the gates were 
carefully closed and securely fastened. 

“Presently the Indians came in crowds to the fort 
to trade, with bundles on their backs. After much 
wrangling without interpreter, they were admitted, 
three or four at a time, each being required to leave 
his belt knife, hatchet and other weapons outside. 
The chief of the band was there. He said nothing 
but looked at the trader. The trader looked at him a 
moment, then took down a bridle which was richly 
ornamented with red woolen fringe and tin stars, and 
gave it to him with a plug of tobacco. This was sup- 
posed to be his license and good will for trading. 
The chief grunted, nodded, lit his pipe and that part 
of the formality was over. The trading went on and 
lasted for several days. The Indians first asked for 
liquor (which the trader did not keep), and were much 
displeased when he told them that he had sold out 
all he had. Their stock in trade consisted of furs of 
all kinds, dressed buffalo robes, dressed and raw deer 
skins, dried buffalo tongues and beeswax. Some of 
them had Mexican silver dollars. They bartered for 
red and blue blankets, strips of blue cloth, bright 
colored gingham handkerchiefs, hoop-iron (for arrow 
and lance points), glass beads, heavy brass wire 
(which they wound into bracelets for the left wrist 
to protect it from the recoil of the bow-string), ver- 
million, red and yellow ochre (for face paint), bright 
hued calicoes and wampum beads, which they wound 
around their necks in great quantities. These beads 
were from two to four inches long, pure white, and 
resembled clay pipe-stems in size. They were highly 
esteemed and served the part of currency in their 
dealings with one another. They wanted guns but the 
Government forbade the selling of firearms to the 
wild Indians at that time. Much of the trading was 
done by means of signs. One finger was one dollar; 
five fingers, five dollars; crossed forefinger, half a 
dollar, etc. Stretching out the arm and touching the 
shoulder was a yard, or unit of measure for cloths and 
fabrics. 

“An hour after the Comanches began to break camp 
the entire band was out of sight. After they had left 
we learned that they had three white captives, all of 
whom had been kept out of sight. Letters were 
promptly dispatched to the commandants at Fort Gib- 
son and Towson, apprising them of the facts. Some 
time afterward, Captain Nathan Boone, with his com- 
pany of dragoons went out on the plains and rescued 
these captives from the Comanches. They proved to 
be a woman and two children captured while washing 
clothes at a branch or creek near their home in Texas. 
They were restored to their family and friends. At 
the same time, a Mexican boy was rescued from cap- 
tivity among the Comanches. He spoke both Coman- 
che and Spanish but he had lived with the Indians so 
long that he could not tell his own name nor could 
he give any information as to the location of the home 
of his family. He remembered that the Indians had 
killed his father and grandfather at the time he was 
carried into captivity.” 


THE TRADER AND THE RENEGADE. 


“Two white renegades, Tom and Bob Merritt, by 
name, were scouting in the Indian Territory. McIntosh 
was on his way home from one of his solitary trading 
trips out to the plains. He had four horses—a saddle 
horse and tkree that were packed with such robes, furs 
and other articles as he had secured in trade with the 
wild Indians. While he was still several days out from 
Fort Gibson, he was surprised and captured one morn- 
ing at his campfire by the Merritts. They robbed him of 
everything, took his horses, provisions and packs of 
Indian goods and turned him loose. They let him 
keep his gun and two charges of powder and a ball 
to shoot something to eat until he could reach the 
Cherokee settlements on the Verdigris, and then Ieft 
him. 

“Did Charley curse his luck and give up to the situa- 
tion? 

“No, he merely sat down and watched them until 
they were out of sight and then he arose and followed 
their trail like a sleuth hound. At night he came in 


788 


sight of their campfire. It was dark and he crawled 
up noiselessly to reconnoitre. The horses were staked 
out at some distance from the camp. They had fin- 
ished a good supper from Charley’s grub and were 
smoking and jesting over the day’s achievement. The 
fire was built before a large log. Big Tom Merritt 
was resting with his back against the log, his head 
resting above it. Charley sneaked out among the 
horses and made some disturbance among them. Bob 
Merritt arose from the fire and went to examine the 
horses, whereupon Charley quickly made his way 
back to the log and, taking careful aim, shot big Tom 
through the head with one of the two bullets. He then 
secured the guns of the outlaw brothers. 

“When Bob Merritt heard the shot he fled to the 
bushes. Charley McIntosh recovered his own horses 
and also took possession of the two horses of the 
robbers. Loading up his packs, and taking with him 
the weapons and ammunition of the renegades, he re- 
sumed his journey toward Fort Gibson with no fear of 
Bob Merritt. On his arrival at the post he was greeted 
with great enthusiasm when his exploit became 
known and a round of dinners and dances were given 
in his honor. Stanley, the artist, painted his portrait 
at full length and dubbed him ‘the hero of the Verdi- 
eripss 

[The allusion to Stanley in this connection would 
seem to fix the date of this occurrence at 1843 or 1844. 
Charles McIntosh was himself killed in a private 
altercation on Vian Creek, in December, 1847.] 


LETTERS WITH REFERENCE TO THE 
RECEIVED. 


WOUNDS 
NE-COMING, A DELAWARE CHIEF. 


Cantonment Gibson, 1830. 

It is hereby certified that Ne-coming, a war chief of 
the Delawares, was, with his party, encamped near 
Cantonment Towson, in 1828, when two of the sol- 
diers were murdered by hostile Indians. When the 
fact was ascertained, a party consisting of a small 
detachment from the garrison, some citizens, with 
Ne-coming and some of his party, at the request of 
the commanding officer, proceeded in pursuit of the 
enemy. They came upon them in about three days, 
while dancing round the soldiers’ scalps. They rushed 
on them, and Ne-Coming, at the head of the party, 
received a poisoned arrow in the fleshy part of his 
thigh. He was brought to the garrison, and remained 
on his pallet for some weeks, totally blind, in con- 
sequence of the injury, and left at last with very im- 
perfect vision. I have recently seen him, and have 
no doubt that his present impaired eyesight is at- 
tributable to the arrow wound. 

J. THURSTON, 


Assistant Surgeon U. S. Army. 
Headquarters, 7th Infantry, 
Cantonment Gibson, July, 1830. 

The bearer, Ne-coming, a principal warrior of the 
Delaware tribe of Indians, is reported to be a man of 
good character and I doubt not, from my knowledge 
of him, that he merits the favorable opinion enter- 
tained of him. It is understood that he served during 
the last war under General Harrison and other officers 
on our northwestern frontier, and that he has at all 
times been a firm friend to the United States; he was 
at Cantonment Towson (Red River) about the last of 
August, 1828, when two soldiers of the garrison were 
killed by a party of the Pawnee Indians [Plains 
Indians]. He immediately turned out by the request 
of the commanding officer (Brevet Major Birch, of the 
7th Infantry) with several of his warriors, on horse- 
back, in company with a detachment of soldiers and 
other mounted men. The Pawnees were overtaken, 
and several of them killed; Ne-coming, it is reported, 
was among the foremost in the attack, and that after 
killing a Pawnee, was severely wounded in the thigh 
by a poisoned arrow, which occasioned him much 
pain, and was the cause of doing great injury to his 
sight. He, therefore, hopes that the Government will 
allow him such annual sum as will enable him to 
support himself in his present infirm condition. 

I am of the opinion that Ne-coming has a strong 
claim on the bounty of the Government, and therefore 
trust that the agent for his nation will assist him in 
obtaining a suitable reward for his services, and the 
injury he has received in the service of the United 


States. 
M. ARBUCKLE, Colonel 7th Infantry. 
—Sen. Doc. 512, Indian Removals, 23d Congress, 1st 
Session, Vol. II, pp. 727-8. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XIII—1. 


NOTES ON THE GOVERNMENT AND CHIEFS OF 
THE CHOCTAWS IN MISSISSIPPI. 


The greater portion of the Choctaw settlements 
were to be found in what are now Neshoba, Kemper, 
Lauderdale, and Newton counties, Mississippi. Up to 
1826 the Choctaw Nation was divided into’three dis- 
tricts, supposed to contain 7,000 to 8,000 inhabitants 
each. For sometime before this, perhaps from time 
immemorial, a high chief called the “miko” (pro- 
nounced “minko,” corrupt spelling ‘“mingo”’”), ruled 
over each of the three tribal districts, having equal 
power and rank. These chiefs had gradually risen to 
their station by the consent of other leading men of 
the Nation, but without a formal election. Besides the 
district chiefs, a headman was appointed over each 
village or settlement, whose rank was indicated by the 
English word ‘captain,’ without any meaning in its 
military sense. In each of the three districts (desig- 
nated as the Northeastern, the Northwestern, and the 
Southeastern or Southern districts) there were about 
thirty captains who were raised to their positions by 
the consent of their neighbors and the Miko. The com- 
mon men of the Nation were the warriors. A council 
of the chiefs, captains, and warriors was held irregu- 
larly, usually called by the chiefs. 

With the advancement of the teachings of the Chris- 
tian missionaries, there had arisen a “Christian party” 
among the Choctaws, composed mostly of young men 
who had received the benefits of an English education. 
Early in 1826, fearing that their people would be led 
away into dissipation and thinking that the district 
chiefs at that time were inefficient in carrying out the 
laws of the tribe and the United States, members of 
this party especially conferred together and succeeded 
in having a council called in the Northeastern District 
about the middle of April. In this council David Fol- 
some, one of the leaders of the Christian Party, be- 
came the speaker. Chief Mosholatubbee, of the North- 
eastern District, was charged with being a bad ruler 
and was told that, while the people did not want “to 
hurt a hair of his head,” if he would resign they would 
pay him $400; if not, they would elect another chief 
anyway. In his reply to these accusations, Chief 
Mosholatubbee claimed that he had always tried to be 
just and had done no wrong; that he believed that 
the people generally were not against him, on the 
other hand that all these complaints were due to the 
“white men” (half-breeds). He called for an opinion 
of those present at the council. The question was put, 
“Are the people here assembled in favor of a change 
of measures?’ The answer was unanimously in the 
affirmative. Thereupon Mosholatubbee resigned and 
received the $400 that had been offered him. Upon his 
resignation, a constitution was adopted for the Nation, 
by the council, the district chiefs to be elected for a 
term of four years, and the legislative power being 
invested in a national committee or council, whose 
acts after being approved by the chiefs were to be the 
supreme law of the Nation. David Folsom was unani- 
mously chosen chief of the Northeastern District by 
the council, thus becoming the first elected district 
chief of the Choctaw people. Within a few months, a 
second council was held and a code of twenty-two 
written laws was adopted, cabdaaeel 3 theft, murder, 
infanticide, marriage, polygamy, making wills and set- 
tling estates, trespass, false testimony, and what con- 
stituted a lawful fence around an enclosure. 

The Northwestern District soon followed the exam- 
ple of the Northeastern District, electing Greenwood 
LeFlore, of French descent, as district chief. The 
Southeastern District elected Isaac Garland as chief. 
In each case the ruling chief who had been unwilling 
to lead the people away from the old tribal customs 
was forced to resign. The three new chiefs were sons 
of white men who had married Choctaw women. They 
were young men who had spoken English from their 
earliest years and who were ready to lead their people 
into the ways of civilization. 

When the question of the removal of the Choctaws 
to the West was seriously considered in 1829, the 
three district chiefs were opposed to the proposition. 
However, during the following winter LeFlore spent 
some time among the Cherokees in Tennessee and re- 
turned to the Choctaw Nation, favoring removal as the 
only means that would save his people. On March 15, 


pel 


APPENDIX 


a council was held near David Folsom’s place, at which 
all three of the chiefs were present, besides several 
hundred Choctaws from LeFlore’s district, only a few 
persons attending from the other two districts. For 
reasons best known to themselves, Folsom and Gar- 
land resigned their positions, though outsiders thought 
it was because a recent Mississippi law made it a fine 
of one thousand dollars to be a chief of an Indian tribe 
within the borders of the State. LeFlore, who hoped 
for “indulgence from Mississippi,” as his influence 
would be for the removal, was considered chief of the 
whole Nation by the consent of those present at the 
Council. The question of removal was fully discussed. 
During these proceedings, LeFlore argued in favor of 
a treaty, the captains and a number of warriors in the 
Council remaining opposed to such a measure, though 
they were finally forced to concede to the arguments 
put forth by LeFlore. The draft of the proposed treaty 
was prepared in the handwriting of Rev. Alexander 
Talley, the most prominent of the Methodist mission- 
aries among the Choctaws, of whom there were sev- 
eral present at the Council. There was one missionary 
of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign 
Missions present, but being alone, he had nothing to 
do with the preparation of the treaty nor was his ad- 
vice sought. The document was read, approved, and 
signed by many Choctaws present at the Council, 
among them being David Folsom and Isaac Garland. 
The two latter attached their signatures as private 
citizens, not as chiefs, claiming they did this as a mat- 
ter of expediency. 

Immediately upon hearing of the action of the Coun- 
cil of March 15, Mosholatubbee and Nitakechi, leader 
of the Kusha (pronounced Koonsha) clan, with their 
followers forwarded a vigorous protest to the Presi- 
dent against the proposed treaty. They charged that 
only a few Choctaws from the Northeastern and 
Southeastern, or Southern, districts had been present 
at the Council and that the measures submitted were 
unjust; that bringing the whole Nation under one 
chief was a usurpation of power; that the people 
would not submit to LeFlore but would have their own 
council and elect their own rulers, since the “extinc- 
tion of two council fires” was unjust. They claimed 
further that Christianity had ruined the Choctaws, 
and, since the Methodists had been instrumental in 
framing the draft of the treaty, all missionaries and 
Christian work were special points of attack. The 
policy of Mosholatubbee and his followers, who styled 
themselves the ‘“‘Republican Party” and their oppo- 
nents the “Despotic Party,’ was to endeavor to make 
the best terms possible in favor of the Choctaws in a 
removal treaty, since they did not maintain they could 
remain in Mississippi, but wished to keep the power 
in their own hands instead of in the hands of the 
Christian chiefs. Within a short time Mosholatubbee 
was reinstated as chief of the Northeastern District, 
and Nitakechi was made chief of the Southern Dis- 
trict. They were duly recognized in their positions by 
the United States Government in the negotiations held 
between its commissioners and the Choctaws, later in 
the year. 


APPENDIX XIII—2. 
A CREEK PROTEST TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 


The communication of the Creek delegation, in 
Washington, to the Secretary of War was in part as 
follows: “Brother: The great object assigned to our 
care to this place, was to intercede with your depart- 
ment for the removal of white citizens from our lands; 
and, in the event of a failure, to petition the Congress 
of the United States, your answer upon that subject 
having satisfied us that our only and last alternative 
is before Congress. 

“The circumstances in which we are unfortunately 
placed, compel us to this resort. Our aged men and 
Women beseech us to remain upon the land of their 
birth; they view a removal as the worst calamity that 
can befall them. By these circumstances, we, as their 
representatives, feel not authorized, even in the fail- 
ure of the last effort, to enter into any definite ar- 
rangement with your Government here, to change 
their situation; and have concluded to leave the city 
of Washington on Thursday morning next, leaving 
behind our friend and special agent, Colonel Brodnas, 
with one of the delegation, to await the result. 


789 


“We feel ourselves persuaded to do so, for the pur- 
pose of placing before our head-men and warriors, as 
early as possible, their true situation; and, after hear- 
ing our report, should they consider best to do that 
which we feel unauthorized to do, our friend will be 
informed; and, through him, the particulars will be 
made known to you.’—Senate Document 512, Indian 
Removals, 1st Session, 28d Congress, Vol. II, p. 


APPENDIX XIII—3. 


NOTES ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHERO- 
KEES. 


The population of the Eastern Cherokees was esti- 
mated in 1824 as approximately 13,500. The first law 
printed in the Nation was passed by the Cherokee 
Council of chiefs and warriors in 1808, providing for 
the organization of “regulating parties,’ composed of 
a captain and a lieutenant and four privates, to assist 
in the execution of the tribal laws. In 1817 the Chero- 
kee Council passed an act providing that a standing 
National Committee of thirteen members, to be elected 
every two years, should have charge of the affairs of 
the Cherokee Nation. John Ross was president of 
this committee for ten years. In 1820, by resolution of 
the National Committee and the Council, the Cherokee 
Nation was organized and laid off into eight districts: 
namely, the First District, or Chickamaugee: the Sec- 
ond District, or Challoogee; the Third District, or 


-Coosawatee; the Fourth District, or Amoah; the Fifth 


District, or Hickory Log; the Sixth District, or Eto- 
wah; the Seventh District, or Tahquohee; the Highth 
District, or Aquohee, the boundaries of each being 
established under the law. Each district was to send 
four representatives to the National Legislature, 
which would meet at New Town, or New Echota, the 
capital, at the forks of the Coosawatee and Conasauga 
rivers, near the present site of Calhoun, Georgia. By 
a resolution of the National Council, an election was 
held in the various districts to select delegates to a 
convention, which assembled July 4, 1827, for the pur- 
pose of drafting a republican constitution for the gov- 
ernment of the Cherokee Nation. This constitution 
was adopted at New Echota, July 26, 1827. It defined 
the boundaries of the Nation which remained divided 
into the eight districts as formerly; and provided for 
the legislative, executive and judicial departments of 
the government. Charles R. Hicks was elected the 
first principal chief, with John Ross as assistant chief. 
The following year John Ross became principal chief, 
which position he held until his death, nearly forty 
years later. Though only one-eighth Cherokee him- 
self, he remained the leader of the full-blood element 
of his people, especially during the agitation for the 
removal, which he strenously opposed to the bitter 
end. 

After the Georgia Legislature passed an act pre- 
scribing a penalty for exercising the powers of the 
Cherokee government within the limits of the State, 
the Cherokee Council passed an ordinance, in July, 
1832, continuing the office of the chief and positions of 
the members of the Council ‘ad infinitum,” since they 
were unable to hold an election in their country. On 
this account a party was organized among the mem- 
bers of the tribe, who were determined not to submit 
to the authority of John Ross. Though this party 
was weak numerically, as time passed some of the 
leading men among the Cherokees joined its ranks and 
favored negotiating a removal treaty with the United 
States. : 


APPENDIX XIII—4. 
GOLD IN THE CHEROKEE NATION, 


“The gold region is situated very near the thickly 
inhabited part of the frontier part of the State. . .” 

“Since the discovery of gold in the Cherokee coun- 
try, the opinion very generally prevailed that those 
who engaged in digging for it violated no right except 
that of the State; and that, after the passage of the 
law extending the jurisdiction of the State over that 
country, the Government of the United States would 
have no authority to enforce the non-intercourse law. 
What effect the proclamation, prohibiting all persons, 
both Indians and whites, from digging gold, may have 
in allaying the excitement among the persons wk’ 


790 


have been removed as intruders, is very uncertain. 
It is probable that it may prevent an immediate attack 
upon the Indians so employed, from the expectation 
that they will be restrained by the authority of the 
State. 

“IT shall be compelled to resort to the tedious process 
of the courts for this purpose, the laws of the State 
not having invested the governor with the power to 
protect the public property by military force. 

“In the meantime, it is very desirable that the Presi- 
dent would direct the officers commanding the United 
States troops to prevent intrusion upon the property 
of the State by the Indians, at the same time defend- 
ing the occupant rights of the Indians from intrusion 
by the whites.” Excerpts from the letter of George R. 
Gilmer, Governor of Georgia, to President Andrew 
Jackson, dated June 17, 1830.—Senate Document 5612, 
Indian Removals, ist Session, 28d Congress. Vol. II, 
pp. 229-31. 


APPENDIX XIV—1. 


MEMORIAL OF THE CREEK INDIANS TO 
PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON 


“Father (President Jackson): We, the chiefs and 
head warriors of the Creek Nation, west of Arkansas 
Territory, having met in council for the purpose of 
taking into consideration such measures as might 
add to the happiness and security of our Nation, have 
concluded to send you this our talk, which we hope 
you will communicate to the great council of the 
United States Government, when they meet at Wash- 
ington City, in December next. 

“Father: When we removed from the land of our 
forefathers agreeably to our treaty with the Govern- 
ment of the United States, we left behind us the bones 
of those whose memory we held most sacred; the 
scenes of our youth are still dear to us, and causes 
us to regret that stern necessity and misfortune has 
driven us into this western wilderness. We, however, 
trust to the vigorous support and protection of the 
Government of the United States, as was promised in 
our treaty, and we rely upon the sympathetic feelings 
of our white brothers in supporting us, when we only 
ask what is just. 

“We knew we were coming to a land of strangers, 
and that our intended neighbors were red brothers 
who had not received the advantages of civilization 
as we, and the rest of your red children who had 
resided east of the Mississippi. These wild Indians 
depend almost altogether upon the chase for support, 
and their glory is war. We are anxious to pursue a 
different course. Our object is to cultivate the land, 
to support our families by our industry, and to pre- 
serve peace not only with our white, but with our red 
brothers. We are, however, subject to depredations 
from small bands of those Indians (Comanches) who 
live on our southern and western frontier, which 
Keeps us in continual alarm for the safety of our 
people, more particularly our women and children. 
These small bands generally make their attacks at 
night, and before the alarm can be given their escape 
is almost certain as they are so well acquainted with 
the country. ' 

“Father: Our object in making this appeal to you 
is, that we hope you will recommend to Congress to 
appoint commissioners, with the power of making 
selections of deputations from different tribes west of 
the Mississippi, to hold a general council with the 
view of making such arrangements, as that peace may 
hereafter be preserved amongst the different tribes; 
and as we are convinced that the success of such an 
understanding depends much upon the selection of 
those who are to compose the commission, we do 
anxiously recommend our friend, Colonel Auguste P. 
Choteau, of St. Louis, Missouri, to be one of the com- 
missioners, as we have full confidence in his integrity 
and knowledge of the tribes, language, manners, cus- 
toms, &c., which qualify him in a superior manner for 
so responsible a duty. 

“Father, this, as far as we have been able to ascer- 
tain, is the general wish of the Creeks, Cherokees, and 
Osages, and we hope you will listen to the voice of 
your red children. 

“Witness our hands and seals this 
twenty-ninth day of October, 1831. 


Roley McIntosh, 
Chilly McIntosh, 


in council, 


his x mark 
“e 5fe “ee 


APPENDIX 


Fusby Hatchee Micco, id 
Cowarcutchee Emarthla, up 
Hothlepoir Tustenaggee, = 
Spohoki Harjo, YY 
Hospetark Harjo, “ 
Ista Caharer Micco, 


Hillabee Tustenaggee, He a 
Samuel Perryman, a i 
Tuckabatihee, By 

Istacharco Harjo, ne a8 
Holtata Thlouo, i: ne 
Co. Emarthla, ne “ 
Coosa Yahola, % hie 
Tus Kenehaw, ae ee 
Tom Stedhan, of St 


Sacota Tustenaggee, 
Nocosee Tustenaggee, 


Witnesses present, 

Thos. Anthony, Acting U. S. Sub-agent for Osages. 
Benjamin Hawkins. 

To his Excellency Andrew Jackson, 
President of the United States. 
—Sen. Doc. 512, Indian Removals, 

Sess., Vol. II, pp. 637-8. 


APPENDIX XIV—2. 
MOUNTED RANGERS 


“We insert in our first page, the act authorizing the 
raising of 600 Mounted Rangers to be employed in the 
defense of the frontiers and, by reference to a subse- 
quent column, it will be seen that Mr. Jesse Bean, of 
Independence County, is authorized to raise one of the 
companies, to consist of 100 men, in Arkansas, within 
thirty days of receipt of his orders and that he is to 
have command of them and the selection of his sub- 
altern officers. The time allowed for raising the com- 
pany we think too short for a country where the pop- 
ulation is so sparse as it is in Arkansas, though we 
have no doubt the number of men required can be 
raised within the time specified. But if sixty or ninety 
days had been allowed to making enlistments among 
the hunters on the western border of the Territory, a 
much more efficient company of experienced woods- 
men would have offered their service than can be 
obtained in the short period of thirty days. In the 
selection of a commander of the Arkansas corps, we 
think the President has been quite fortunate. A more 
experienced woodsman, or one better acquainted with 
the Indian mode of fighting, can hardly be found in 
any country than Captain Bean. He took a gallant 
part in the principal engagements at New Orleans, 
while that city was invested by the British Army, in 
1814-15, and was with General Jackson in the sub- 
sequent Indian wars in Florida, where he commanded 
a company of spies (scouts?) and rendered important 
services for which he was highly complimented by the 
commanding general. 

“We would advise all who are desirous of joining 
Captain Bean’s company to lose no time in proceeding 
to Batesville (near which place Captain Bates re- 
sides), with their horses and necessary equipment.’”’— 
“Arkansas Gazette,” July 18, 1832. 

“The Arkansas Mounted Rangers.—We learn, by 
letter from Captain Jesse Bean, that, in consequence 
of absence from home, he did not receive the instruc- 
tions to raise a company of Mounted Rangers until 
the 27th ult. He immediately gave notice that he would 
be at Batesville on the 30th, for the purpose of re- 
ceiving recruits and that, on that day, had the satis- 
faction of enrolling thirty recruits, nearly all of 
whom are active and intelligent young men and he 
expresses his confident belief that he shall be able 
to organize his company in a few weeks. He has ap- 
pointed the following gentlemen to be officers of his 
company, viz.: 


Joseph Pentecost, first lieutenant. 
Robert King, second lieutenant. 
George Caldwell, third lieutenant. 


“Lieutenant King visited this place, last week, for 
the purpose of receiving recruits and left, on Sunday, 
for Pope County on the same business. He requested 
us to give notice to all suitable persons wishing to 
join the company, that if they will rendezvous at 
Batesville, by the 22d, with their horses and equip- 
ments, they will be received. 

“We most sincerely wish Captain Bean success in 


HMMM MM AMM MM 


23d Cong. ist 


SE  ————— 


APPENDIX 


raising his company and hope it will be composed of 
such materials as will redound to his credit and the 
aig the Territory.’—‘‘Arkansas Gazette,’ August 
8, 1832. 

“The Arkansas Rangers.—We are gratified to learn, 
by a gentleman from Batesville, that Captain Bean 
has succeeded in raising his company, and that the 
members of it were to rendezvous at Batesville, on 
Monday last, preparatory to taking up their line of 
march for Fort Gibson, to which post Captain Bean 
had been ordered to report himself and company.’’— 
“Arkansas Gazette,” August 29, 1832. 


APPENDIX XIV—3. 


BIOGRAPHIES OF MAJOR FRANCIS W. 
CAPTAIN WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, 


Francis Wells Armstrong, son of Colonel James 
(called “Trooper”’) Armstrong and Susan Wells Arm- 
strong, was born about 1783 in Virginia. He was a 
citizen of Tennessee at the time he entered the military 
service as a captain of the 24th Infantry, in March, 
1812. At the end of the War, in June, 1815, he was 
honorably discharged, but six months later he was 
recommissicned as captain of the 7th Infantry, with 
the brevet rank of major. He resigned his commis- 
sion in the army on April 30, 1817. On the authority 
of the late Dr. James Park, of Knoxville, Tennessee, 
Major Armstrong was the inventor of the Derringer 
pistol. Dr. Park said, ‘My brother William Park and 
Hugh L. McClung were with Francis Armstrong when 
he gave the pattern of the pistol to Derringer.” Wil- 
liam Park was a brother-in-law to Major Armstrong, 
having married the latter’s sister, Jane Crozier Arm- 
strong. ; : 

At the beginning of the Jackson administration, 
Major Francis W. Armstrong was appointed United 
States Marshall of Alabama. President Jackson also 
appointed his brother, General Robert Armstrong, as 
postmaster of Nashville, Tennessee. (General Arm- 
strong was appointed consul to Liverpool by President 
Polk, in 1845.) Major Armstrong received a special 
appointment to take a census of the Choctaw Nation, 
in Mississippi, in the summer of 1831. In the follow- 
ing September, he was appointed as Choctaw agent 
west, his agency being located fifteen miles west of 
Fort Smith. In 1832, in addition to this position, he 
was also appointed superintendent for the removal 
and subsistence of the Indians west of the Mississippi, 
which positions he was holding at the time of his 
death in 1835. Early in the ’thirties, Major Armstrong 
had married Ann Willard, of Baltimore and Wash- 
ington. Their one son, Frank Crawford Armstrong, 
was born in 1835, at the Choctaw Agency, afterward 
known as Skullyville. Many years later Frank C. 
Armstrong figured prominently in the history of the 
Indian Territory as a member of the Dawes Commis- 
sion, which brought about a settlement of the affairs 
of the Five Civilized Tribes preparatory to statehood 
for Oklahoma. 

At a meeting of the officers of the garrison at Fort 
Coffee, held on the 7th of August, 1835, appropriate 
resolutions, deploring the death of Major Armstrong, 
and expressions of sympathy for his stricken family, 
were adopted. Notice of the death of Major Arm- 
strong is here quoted from the “Arkansas Gazette” of 
August 18, 1835, as follows: 

“Died, at the Western Choctaw Agency, on the 6th 
of August, instant, Major Francis W. Armstrong, agent 
for the Choctaws and superintendent of Indian Affairs, 
west, and late of Nashville, Tennessee. His remains 
were taken to Fort Coffee and there interred with the 
honors of war. Few have gone to the grave more 
Sincerely lamented than the subject of this notice. 
He early embarked in the service of his country and, 
in her civil and military departments, has held high 
and responsible positions. He occupied at the time of 
his death an important and honorable situation, in 
which the interests of his country and of numerous 
Indian tribes were deeply involved. To every subject 
he brought a mind matured by reflection and experi- 
ence, a judgment sound and correct in all its oper- 
tions. Prompt and decisive in the exercise of his 
official duty, he gained the esteem and confidence of 
all with whom he was publicly or privately connected. 
All his purposes were settled on a permanent basis. 


AND 


. by the acting incumbent. 


791 


His services to his country have reached a goodly 
measure and he has now closed his labors, and finished 
his record. He has left a numerous circle of friends 
and relations to deplore his untimely loss and weep 
over his monument; but may they find consolation in 
the reflection that his reward is with the God of 
heaven, whose peculiar care is extended over all the 
children of man.” 

At the death of Major Armstrong, his brother, Cap- 

tain William Armstrong, assumed the duties as Choc- 
taw agent and acting superintendent of Indian affairs. 
William Armstrong was born about 1800. He par- 
ticipated in the Battle of New Orleans and, like his 
brothers, was a personal friend of President Andrew 
Jackson. Captain Armstrong was appointed superin- 
tendent of the Choctaw removal east of the Missis- 
sippi, in 1832, serving in that capacity until the end 
of the main immigration of the Choctaws to the Indian 
Territory. 
i Rev. William H. Goode in relating his experiences 
in the Choctaw country, while superintendent of Fort 
Coffee Academy for Boys, in 1843-45, wrote the fol- 
Pens paragraphs in his book, entitled “Outposts of 
ion: 

“Major William Armstrong was a native of Ten- 
nessee, and a brother to General Robert Armstrong, 
late Consul to Liverpool, and long the intimate friend 
of General Jackson. Another brother had held the 
place of Choctaw Agent, and, dying, was succeeded 
Major Armstrong was one 
of ‘nature’s noblemen;’ of commanding person and 
noble bearing; courteous, gentlemenly, and hospitable; 
with a soul that scorned the thought of profiting by 
a mean act, whether at the expense of a white or 
red man. He was emphatically the friend of the 
Indian, and especially of the Choctaw; and, as a 
result, he possessed their confidence and even affection 
in a very high degree. 

* * * Major Armstrong highly approved the edu- 
cational movements among this people, encouraged 
missionary labor, and vigorously seconded every effort 
for their improvement. This much is due to the 
memory of the Inlian’s friend and protector, a worthy 
man and faithful public officer. Would that among 
the appointees of the Government to Indian Agencies 
such examrples were not so rare!” 

Captain (in his later years called “Major’) Arm- 
strong married Nancy Irwin at Nashville, on July 1, 
1823. She died in Tennessee on September 28, 1836. 
His death occurred at Doaksville on June 12, 1847. 


APPENDIX XV—1. 
LETTER OF REV. ALEXANDER TALLEY, 


Kiametia, Choctaw Nation West, 
; June 1, 1831. 

Sir: It has become necessary that I trouble you 
with a few lines on the necessity of directing the pay- 
ment of certain expenses incurred in the emigration 
of the Choctaws. As I had acted under the direction 
Of) Col; Leflore, I deferred a direct communication on 
the subject, hoping that he would have visited this 
country, and relieved me from responsibility and anx- 
iety before this time. But as the funds of the north- 
west district must be appropriated according to the 
direction of the Department of War, and as these ex- 
penses are expected to be met by the funds of that 
district, it becomes necessary that the department be 
apprised of the nature and probable amount of the 
claims. 

In my communication of October, I apprised you of 
the violent efforts then making to put down the chief, 
and to prepare the materials to prevent the ratifica- 
tion of the treaty. I also apprised you of the difficul- 
ties that must result from the removal of the chief; 
that any engagement entered into by me, for corn, 2 
smith, iron, &c., might fall on me as an individual. 
The publication of the letter of Col. Leflore greatly 
assisted me in accomplishing the desired object. But 
it also necessitated my assuming responsibility in cer- 
tain cases not provided for by Col. Leflore. Col. Le- 
flore furnished me with authority to purchase one 
thousand dollars worth of corn, if necessary, and to 
assure the person of whom I purchased that the money 
should be paid in July next, out of the annuity of the 
northwest district. I purchased corn to that amount 


792 


in January, and issued about ninety bushels before 
the arrival of Lieutenant Stephenson. I immediately 
transferred the remainder to him. About this time 
the advance party of emigrants reached their place 
of destination, after very great suffering from the un- 
paralleled severity of the winter. One of this party 
having perished with cold and hunger, I determined 
to prevent a like evil occurring in future, by having 
supplies furnished from Coafabrica [Ecore de Fabre?] 
to this place, a distance of one hundred and sixty 
miles, through which all the emigrants had to pass, 
and in which very little cane or grass could be had for 
their horses, and neither meat or corn could be had for 
their party. Thus situated, their sufferings must have 
been extreme, but for supplies furnished them. But 
these supplies were not directed by the chief. I have 
assumed the responsibility, relying upon the necessity 
of the case, to justify the expectation of the prompt 
attention of the War Department. The demand to 
meet these engagements will be one hundred and fifty 
or two hundred dollars. 

Col. Leflore requested that I would procure tools and 
iron, and put a shop in operation. This I have done 
with much difficulty. The smith has been engaged near 
two months, and will be continued a third month, if 
iron can be had. It was expected, by the chief, that 
the ferriage in crossing the Mississippi would be the 
only expense of that kind: but, in this particular, we 
have found it necessary to depart from his instruc- 
tions. With the second company of emigrants, Mr. 
Meyers, one of our teachers, was sent, with his family, 
as the leader of the whole of the emigrants, and by 
the example of whose family that the Choctaws might 
be stimulated to press through every difficulty. Mr. 
Meyers found the first party on the bank of the Mis- 
sissippi, and with much difficulty had a boat prepared 
to cross them. He then left most of the people and 
advanced to the saline, where he was detained five 
weeks, preparing a boat. At Coafabrica the ferriage 
was engaged for the whole of the emigrants, and 
again, at Little river. It is impossible to say what 
will be the demand on this item. 

I enclose you a letter from Mr. Haley, illustrative 
of the feelings that influenced me and the chief, when 
il ea the nation, and under the influence of which I 
acted. 


PROBABLE AMOUNT OF ENGAGEMENTS. 


Corn, turnished in the nation; Say eaceswnste ae cies $100. 
Corn and meat furnished on the way .......... 200. 
Smith, twovmonthsrae S40 Mrere en seretetsrers ieee chars 80. 
Striker. two-1do! iat CS hyo ait eteterereterensicteliersietsr ake 30. 
Board, four: do-.,vate S1L0ea. ee oes ate ataeiten wravclecs nue 405 
Tron, steel) 60s 4 iiochsioieciecie eleivverere anobigrhoo smn oon 120. 
LENS) COOLS = shatters stevelele) seats Rletclote etetaleistaleletels eialavenares yO Os 
Berrigees i. wae sete atNelatel Sue ra toteie eters tole dav'el sUniele oFaire 150. 

$755. 


It is hoped that these payments may be ordered to 
be made by some officer in this country, as the delay 
produced by forwarding them through the agent of 
the old nation will be very sensibly felt by some of 
the people having demands, and may shade the liberal 
spirit manifested by the people of the territory, in 
meeting the wants of the Choctaws. 

Most Respectfully, &c., 
ALEXANDER TALLEY. 
To the Secretary of War. 


APPENDIX XV—2. 
RESIGNATION OF CAPTAIN CLARK. 


Little Rock, August 5, 1831. 

General:—By letter of this instant, I informed you 
that I would not make a contract to supply Indians 
on the route, as per my advertisement enclosed to you 
in that letter, until I could get something more defi- 
nite as to the time when the removal would commence. 
By Major Hook’s letter of the 9th ultimo, I am in- 
formed that a large party will start in September next. 
I will therefore go on to make arrangements for their 
arrival on this side of the Mississippi in October next. 
My prospect so far is not flattering, and I will be 
agreeably disappointed if the removal, during the ap- 
proaching fall, should pass off only tolerably well. 
With a hope that you may find, without difficulty, a 


APPENDIX 


person every way better qualified to superintend a 
matter of so much responsibility than myself, I have 
only to say that you will add to the very many obil- 
gations I owe you already, by having me relieved as 
soon as practicable. 
I am, sir, with great respect, 
Your most obedient servant, 
J. B. CLARK, 
To General Geo. Gibson, Captain, U. S. Army. 
Commissary General Subsistence, 
Washington City. 


APPENDIX XV—3. 


OF THE CHOCTAW 
PARTIES, 1831. 


The party that went by way of Memphis was under 
the leadership of Peter P. Pitchlynn, and directed by 
Thomas McGhee, assistant agent. Upon their arrival 
at Memphis, the emigrants embarked on the steam- 
boat, “Brandywine,” for Arkansas Post, under the 
direction of Dr. T. J. Fulton, assistant agent of the 
western organization, arriving the last week of No- 
vember, 1831. Leaving Arkansas Post eight weeks 
later, they passed Little Rock on January 23, on 
board the “Reindeer” with a keel-boat in tow, bound 
for Fort Smith. Delayed by the low stage of water 
in the Arkansas, they did not reach their destination 
ee nearly the end of the first week in February, 

The parties that proceeded to Vicksburg arrived 
there in relays and camped on the hills outside the 
town. Though Colonel Gaines had made efforts to 
secure steamboats by advertising, none were ready at 
the river landing to receive the emigrants. At last 
four steamboats were secured at very high prices: 
namely, the “Walter Scott,” the ‘Reindeer,’ the 
“Talma,” and the “Cleopatra.” 

The “Walter Scott” steamed up the Mississippi for 
Arkansas Post, with about fourteen hundred Choctaws 
under the leadership of Nitakechi, and directed by 
Wharton Rector, assistant agent of the western or- 
ganization. Colonel Gaines had an attack of influenza 
at Vicksburg, on account of which he had persuaded 
Rector to direct the party to the Post, though this 
meant a countermand in Captain Brown’s orders, since 
he was to have had charge of the parties by way of 
Lake Providence and Ecore de Fabre. About twelve 
hundred emigrants of Nitakechi’s party arrived at 
Little Rock on January 16, having been transported 
on board the ‘Reindeer’ from Arkansas Post. The 
remainder of this party traveled overland from the 
Post, all of which started overland for the Kiamichi 
by January 25, and arrived at their destination about 
March 1, 1832. The delay of more than a month at the 
Post had been necessary to await the arrival of the 
horses belonging to these emigrants. Robert Jones, 
a half-breed Choctaw, had been given charge of driv- 
ing the herd of five hundred horses from Vicksburg 
through the swamps to Arkansas Post. During the 
blizzard about two hundred head starved to death. 


ORGANIZATION EMIGRATING 


The “Reindeer” had started up the Mississippi from | 


Vicksburg in November, for Little Rock, with six 
hundred emigrants on board, under the leadership of 
David Folsom, directed by Nathaniel Norwood of the 
eastern organization. Upon arriving at Arkansas 
Post, the boat was commandeered by Colonel Maury 
and one hundred troops of the 7th Infantry. Norwood 
landed his party at the Post, though against the ex- 
press orders of Mr. Colquhoun, assistant agent with 
Colonel Gaines. This party, under the direction of 
Lieutenant Ryan, left the Post on December 13, al- 
though the weather was extremely cold, and passed 
from the vicinity of Little Rock on December 29, 
with forty-five wagons in the train, none hauled by 
less than four horses or oxen, and many by six. Three 
or four days before this party reached Little River, 
the Government ferry boat at that stream was de- 
signedly destroyed by unknown persons. This detained 
the emigrants several days until a new boat could b« 
made, during which time the settlers in the vicinity 
took advantage of the situation, charging $2 a bushel 
for corn and 4 cents a pound for beef. The Choctaws 
arrived in the vicinity of Fort Towson and were dis- 
charged by Lieutenant Ryan on January 27 to 29, 1832. 


- 


APPENDIX 


The “Talma” and the “Cleopatra” went down the 
Mississippi for the Ouachita River to Ecore de Fabre, 
with the two parties of Choctaws, numbering about 
five hundred each, under the leadership of George W. 
Harkins and Joel H. Nail. They arrived at Ecore de 
Fabre on December 9. After traveling overland, they 
reached Fort Towson and were discharged by agents 
Sommerville and Everitt from January 30 to Febru- 
ary 1, 1832. 

Most of the commutation (self immigrating) parties 
crossed the Mississippi at Point Chicot. One of these 
was the party of about two hundred Choctaws, emi- 
grating under the leadership of Robert and Jerry 
Folson. They were detained in the swamp on the east 
bank of the Mississippi during the blizzard, and suf- 
fered every hardship from the severe weather. They 
arrived in the vicinity of Fort Towson early in March, 
1832. The last party to leave Vicksburg, December 10, 
1831, was made up of about two hundred emigrants 
under the leadership of Captain S. D. Fisher, a half- 
breed from Colonel LeFlore’s district. They had set 
out down the Mississippi on board the ‘“‘Walter Scott” 
(which had returned from its trip up the river), miser- 
able and wretched after having walked barefoot 
through the snow and ice twenty-four hours before 
arriving at Vicksburg. They reached the vicinity of 
Fort Towson from Ecore de Fabre early in the spring. 
The number of commutation tickets issued, according 
to the reports on April 20, 1832, was 873 Choctaws and 
11 negro slaves. Subsequent to this date, other com- 
mutation tickets were issued to a few emigrants who 
had received no assistance in the journey to the West. 


APPENDIX XV—4. 
LETTERS FROM CAPTAIN BROWN. 


Excerpts of letters from Captain Jacob Brown to 
General Gibson, written from Little Rock, Arkansas 
Territory, 1831: 

November 30, 1831. 

“Sir:—I am just informed that upwards of 500 of 
the emigrants have arrived at the Post of the Arkan- 
sas. They embarked at Vicksburg in steamboats, and 
Were landed at the post on the 26th instant:—Our 
progress will necessarily be slow; the days are short 
and the season cold and stormy; and the whole sur- 
face of the country is either covered with water or 
so much saturated as to render the travelling exceed- 
ingly bad.” 

December 10, 1831. 

“Weather for the last ten days exceedingly cold— 
atmosphere varying between eight and sixteen freez- 
ing degrees. At 7 o’clock this morning the mercury 
was down to Zero!—About six inches of snow—ground 
hard frozen—Arkansas choked with ice, and has been 
for two days past. Such, at this season of the year, 
has never before in this section of the country been 
witnessed. Our poor naked emigrants must suffer. 
However, they are, and have been in as comfortable 
a condition as it were possible for them to be.” 


December 15, 1831. 

“This unexpected cold weather must produce much 
human suffering. Our poor emigrants, many of them 
quite naked, and without much shelter, must suffer: 
it is impossible to be otherwise; and my great fears 
are, that many of them will get frosted. It is impos- 
sible to make any progress in movements to their 
destination: hence, how unfortunate the time for this 
operation! An over-land journey just commenced, of 
about three hundred and fifty miles, to be accomp- 
lished at mid-winter, through a country little settled, 
and literally impassable to anything but wild beasts. 
How I shall succeed with such elements to contend 
against, is impossible now to tell, and can only say 
that I am prepared to avail myself of the first favor- 
able change of the weather, with all the team force 
that can be obtained within one hundred miles of this 


place.” 
December 20, 1831. 

“You will perceive in the estimate that a large ex- 
penditure is for teams, which I am compelled to hire 
in order to accomplish the objects of present move- 
ments, aS well as a very considerable increased ex- 
penditure incidental to the very singular turn and 
course the emigration has taken, that is, instead of 
erossing the Mississippi at the four places pointed out 


793 


at an early period, viz, Vicksburg, Chicot, Helena, and 
Memphis, and in about equal quantities at each place, 
the whole or greater portion of them have been sent 
to the Post of Arkansas, and that, too, without any 
previous knowledge, or even intimation, that such 
would be the case.” 

January 11, 1832. 


“RWour of my agents are now in charge of emigrants, 
and all are begging for funds. They tell me it will 
be impossible to sustain themselves and parties much 
longer. Drafts are coming in from all quarters; the 
holders are disappointed, they are clamorous; some 
have come two hundred and fifty miles, and have 
had to return without their money. 

“The consequences resulting from much longer de- 
lay in the receipt of money will be terrible; and with 
many, I fear, greatly to be deplored, independent of 
the injury it will be to the cause of the emigration. 

“T shall do every thing that is within the scope of 
human possibility. Three days ago, I parted with the 
last five dollars of my own money to start an express 
to the post. God grant the speedy arrival of funds.” 


APPENDIX XV—5. 
IN THE SWAMP NEAR LAKE PROVIDENCE. 


This commutation party had been ferried across 
from Vicksburg to Lake Providence. Upon hearing 
of the plight of the emigrants in the swamp, Agent 
Cross, who had accompanied the parties by steamboat 


“from Vicksburg to Ecore de Fabre, returned to rescue 


them. Of their condition, a resident of Lake Provi- 
dence wrote a few months later: 

“I do not know who is the contractor for furnishing 
them rations. But be he or them, who they may, their 
object is to make money without the least feeling for 
the suffering of this unfortunate people. From Vicks- 
burg to this place is sixty-five miles. On this route 
they received a scant supply, and only then a part of 
the parties once. Here they received worse than a 
scanty supply, to do them eighty miles through an 
uninhabited country, fifty miles of which is over- 
flowed swamp, and in which distance are two large 
deep streams that must be crossed in a boat or on a 
raft, and one other nearly impassable for them on 
the way. This, too, was to be done during the worst 
time of weather I have ever seen in any country—a 
heavy sleet having broken and bowed down all the 
small and much of the large timber. And this was 
to be performed under pressure of hunger by old 
women and young children, without any covering for 
their feet, legs, or body, except a cotton under dress 
generally. In passing before they reached this place 
for getting rations here, I gave a party leave to enter 
a small field in which pumpkins were. They would 
not enter without leave though starving. PY @r 

“These people have with them a great number of 
horses, and some cattle, chiefly oxen. The time re- 
quired to get the horses and cattle together in the 
morning when travelling through a country thickly 
covered with strong cane as this is, must be very 
considerable in good weather, and in bad weather 
days are often spent at the same camp.” Letter of 
Joseph Kerr to Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, 
dated from Lake Providence, La., June 14, 1832.— 
Senate Document 512, Indian Removals, 23d Congress 
1st Session, Vol. I, pp. 719-20. 


APPENDIX XV—6. 
FAREWELL TO THE CHOCTAWS. 


The Vicksburg ‘Sentinel,’ of February 18, 1845, re- 
ferring to the removal of some of the Choctaws at 
that time said: 

“The last remnants of this once powerful race are 
now crossing our ferry on their way to their new 
home in the far West. To one who, like the writer, 
has been familiar to their bronze, inexpressive faces 
from infancy, it brings associations of peculiar sad- 
ness to see them bidding farewell to the old hills 
which gave birth, and are doubtless equally dear, to 
him and them alike. The first playmates of our in- 
fancy were the young Choctaw boys of the ten woods 
of Warren County. Their language was once scarcely 
less familiar to us than our mother English. We 
know, we think, the character of the Choctaw well. 


794 


We knew many of their present stalwart braves in 
those days of early life when Indian and white alike 
forget to disguise, but, in the unchecked exuberance 
of youthful feeling, show the real character that 
policy and habit may afterward so much conceal; and 
we know that, under the stolid and stoic look he 
assumes, there is burning in the Indian’s nature a 
heart of fire and feeling and an all observing keen- 
ness of apprehension that marks and remembers 
everything that occurs and every insult he receives. 
Cunni-at-a-hah! ‘They are going away!’ With a vis- 
ible reluctance which nothing has ever overcome but 
the stern necessity which they feel impelling them, 
they have looked their last upon the graves of their 
sires—the scenes of their youth—and have taken up 
their slow toilsome march with their household gods 
among them to their new home in a Strange land. 
They leave names to many of our rivers, towns and 
counties and, as long as our State remains, the Choc- 
taws, who once owned most of her soil, will be 
remembered.” 


APPENDIX XV—7. 


CHOCTAW EMIGRANTS AT ECORE DE FABRE, 
1831. 


Two parties under the leadership of George W. 
Harkins and Joel H. Nail, from the Northwestern and 
the Southern districts, respectively, numbering about 
five hundred emigrants each, were transported in 
steamboats from Vicksburg to Ecore de Fabre, under 
the direction of Assistant Agent S. T. Cross and his 
assistants, A. H. Sommerville and A. W. Everitt. 
Upon their arrival at Ecore de Fabre, there was no 
agent of the western organization at this point, nor 
within less than 165 miles, to take charge of the emi- 
grants. When Agent Cross returned from rescuing 
the party of Choctaws from the swamp, he found 
orders from Colonel Gaines to proceed to Point Chicot 
to issue commutation tickets to those Choctaws who 
traveled by that route. This left assistant agents 
Sommerville and Everitt (a nephew of Gaines) to con- 
duct the emigrants from Ecore de Fabre to Fort 
Towson. R. C. Byrd and L. Belding, men of political 
influence in Arkansas, were the contractors for fur- 
nishing supplies by way of Lake Providence and 
Ecore de Fabre. Their contract called for 12% cents 
per ration, whereas elsewhere the contracts called for 
6 to 6% cents per ration. 

In securing transportation from the settlers in the 
vicinity of Ecore de Fabre, the assistant agents were 
forced to pay at the rate of $7 a day for wagons and 
teams, the teamsters in turn to Byrd and Belding 
$2 a bushel for corn for feed. When the accounts 
were presented to Captain Brown, he refused to honor 
them, saying the prices were exorbitant (the contract 
for rations had been made before his arrival at Little 
Rock), and that the contracts for wagon hire were 
made by agents of the eastern organization for which 
he was in no way responsible. In the final settle- 
ment, the department found that many of the irregu- 
larities in the way of proper receipts, etc., were due 
to unbusinesslike methods in the hurry and pressure 
of circumstances at the time of the emigration. The 
contractors claimed that the high prices for rations 
and corn were due to the severity of the winter and 
the scarcity of provisions at that time. Agent Cross 
was held in no way responsible, though General Gib- 
son was inclined to blame him at first; he was a 
model of efficiency in his work and remained in the 
employ of the Government during the period of re- 
moval of the Indians. 


APPENDIX XV—S. 
CHICKASAW EMIGRANTS, 1837. 


A regular route overland had been selected between 
Little Rock and Fort Coffee, by Government officers, 
along which supplies had been provided for the emi- 
grating Chickasaws. Upon arriving at Little Rock, 
the first party of about 350 emigrants refused to go 
by way of Fort Coffee (five miles from Skullyville), 
taking the road toward Fort Towson. Mr. John Mil- 
lard, conducting agent for the Government, and Lieu- 
tenant Gouverneur Morris, of the 4th Infantry, United 
States Army, acting as a disbursing agent in the 


APPENDIX 


Chickasaw removal, with Daniel McCurtain, a Choc- 
taw, to act as interpreter, set forth from the Choctaw 
Agency to overtake the refractory party of Chicka- 
saws. They met the emigrants a short distance from 
Little Rock and proceeded with them toward Fort 
Towson. The Chickasaws resented this action and did 
everything they could to show their displeasure, de- 
layed along the way, would not obey orders, and_even 
threw their baggage out of the Government wagons. 
In view of this rebellious spirit, Lieutenant Morris 
threatened to send for troops from Fort Towson with 
the idea of compelling the emigrants to proceed out 
of Arkansas Territory toward their destination. 

The weather was extremely hot, water was scarce, 
there were many cases of fever in the party, and a 
number of the emigrants died. As the party traveled 
through Arkansas, a gang of horse thieves stole sev- 
eral fine horses belonging to the Chickasaws, and a 
crowd of citizens of the Territory followed at a little 
distance along the road, in order to tempt the emi- 
grants into buying whiskey from them. At last after 
much difficulty and delay, the party arrived at Colo- 
nel David Folsom’s, twenty-two miles west of the 
Choctaw line, where arrangements were made with 
him to furnish rations to the Chickasaws for the time 
being, at 8 cents a ration. 

Early the next spring, 1838, some of these emigrants 
proceeded to Boggy Depot where William R. Guy, 
Assistant Agent in the Chickasaw removal, was sta- 
tioned as issuing commissary, contracts having been 
made with other persons to furnish supplies. On 
June 7, Agent Upshaw, then at Pontotoc, Mississippi, 
received a letter from Mr. Guy, written from Boggy 
Depot and telling of conditions in the vicinity. He 
wrote in part: “I am here starving with the Chicka- 
saws, by gross mismanagement on the part of the con- 
tractors, and when our situation will be bettered it 
is hard for me to tell, for it is one failure after an- 
other without end. You or Col. Armstrong are very 
much needed here, at this time; for there is such a 
propensity to play Farrow at Fort Coffee that I begin 
to think that we will have to starve to death, or 
abandon the country. There has been corn within 
forty miles of this place for four or five days, without 
moving a peg to relieve the sufferings of the people 
of Blue or Boggy.” 


APPENDIX XV—9. 
WILSON LUMPKIN ON CHEROKEE REMOVAL. 


As the apologist for Georgia in his two volumes, 
“Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, 
1827-35,” Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, successively member 
of Congress, Governor of Georgia, special commis- 
sioner under the Cherokee Treaty, and United States 
Senator, manifested extreme hostility toward John 
Ross. He stated that all the troubles of the Cherokees 
were due to “the obstinacy of this remarkable man.” 
In a communication to President Jackson, he wrote, 
“Through General Wool, and other channels of infor- 
mation, you are fully apprised of the mischievous ef- 
forts of John Ross and his white associates to prevent 
a speedy and faithful execution of the late Treaty. 
This man Ross, sir, has already been the instrument in 
the hands of bad men to bring more than enough evil 
be Aig unfortunate race—the Cherokees.’—(Vol. II, 
p. ; 

At the end of his first volume, Mr. Lumpkin made 
the statement, ‘‘While I viewed John Ross and a few 
of his prominent followers as very selfish, bad men, 
the Ridges, Boudinot and many others had gained my 
confidence as high-minded, honorable and patriotic 
men—men devoted to the best interest of their people: 
men whose civilization and intelligence justly entitled 
them to a place in the confidence and brotherhood of 
the first statesmen and philanthropists of the age.” 

In addressing the United States Senate on May 15, 
1838, Mr. Lumpkin particularly praised the character 
of John Ridge, as a leader of the treaty party. He 
said that many of the Eastern Cherokees had emi- 
grated “and taken up their abodes in their new coun- 


try, where they are quiet, happy and contented, and 


are anxious to see the balance of their tribe join them 
in the West, and participate in their rich inheritance. 
Among these emigrants are Mr. Ridge, the writer of 
the letter to which I referred, who is a man of strong 


ee 


APPENDIX 


native mind, improved by education and cultivation. 
He is a man of great integrity of character, whose 
lofty spirit became restless under the conflicts and 
controversies of his people with the Government of 
the State of Georgia and other States, which termi- 
nated in the annihilation of the Cherokee Government. 

“Under these circumstances, Mr. Ridge and his 
friends yielded to the force of circumstances, choosing 
to abandon their country rather than be deprived of 
their native rights, which they had long been accus- 
tomed to exercise—self-government.”—(Vol. II, p. 201.) 


APPENDIX XV—10. 


MOONEY’S DESCRIPTION OF CHEROKEE 
REMOVAL. 


James Mooney in a historical sketch included with 
his “Myths of the Cherokee,” 19th Annual Report, 
Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 130-31, says: 

“A Georgia volunteer, afterward a colonel in the 
Confederate service, said: ‘I fought through the Civil 
War and have seen men shot to pieces and slaugh- 
tered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the 
cruelest work I ever knew.’ 

“To prevent escape the soldiers had been ordered to 
approach each house, so far as possible, so as to come 
upon the occupants without warning. One old patri- 
arch, when thus surprised, calmly called his children 
and grandchildren around him, kneeling down, bid 
them pray with him in their own language, while the 
astonished soldiers looked on in silence. Then rising 
he led the way into exile. A woman, on finding the 
house surrounded, went to the door and called up the 
chickens to be fed for the last time, after which, tak- 
ing her infant on her back and her two other chil- 
dren by the hand, she followed her husband with the 
soldiers. 

“All were not thus submissive. One old man named 
Tsali, ‘Charley,’ was seized with his wife, his brother, 
his three sons and their families. Exasperated at the 
brutality accorded his wife, who, being unable to 
travel fast, was prodded with bayonets to hasten her 
steps, he urged the other men to join with him in 
a dash for liberty. As he spoke in Cherokee the sol- 
diers, although they heard, understood nothing until 
each warrior suddenly sprang upon the one nearest 
and endeavored to wrench his gun from him. The 
attack was so sudden and unexpected that one soldier 
was killed and the rest fled, while the Indians escaped 
to the mountains. Hundreds of others, some of them 
from the various stockades, managed also to escape to 
the mountains from time to time, where those who did 
not die of starvation subsisted on roots and wild ber- 
ries until the hunt was over. Finding it impracticable 
to secure these fugitives, General Scott finally ten- 
dered them a proposition, through (Colonel) W. H. 
Thomas, their most trusted friend, that if they would 
surrender Charley and his party for punishment, the 
rest would be allowed to remain until their case could 
be adjusted by the government. On hearing of the 
proposition, Charley voluntarily came in with his sons, 
offering himself as a sacrifice for his people. By com- 
mand of General Scott, Charley, his brother, and the 
two elder sons were shot near the mouth of the Tuck- 
asegee, a detachment of Cherokee prisoners being 
compelled to do the shooting in order to impress upon 
the Indians the fact of their utter helplessness. From 
those fugitives thus permitted to remain originated 
the present eastern band of Cherokee.” 


APPENDIX XV—11. 
THE WESTWARD JOURNEY OF THE CHEROKEES. 


James Mooney gives the following description of the 
journey of the exiled Cherokees to the West: 

‘Tt was like the march of an army, regiment after 
regiment, the wagons in the center, the officers along 
the line and the horsemen on flanks and at the rear. 
Tennessee River was crossed at Tuckers (?) ferry, a 
short distance above Jollys island, at the mouth of 
Hiwassee. Thence the route lay south of Pikeville, 
through McMinnville and on to Nashville, where the 
Cumberland was crossed. Then they went on to Hop- 
Kinsville, Kentucky, where the noted chief White- 
path, in charge of a detachment, sickened and died. 
His people buried him by the roadside, with a box 


199 


over the grave and poles with streamers around it, 
that the others coming on might note the spot and 
remember him. Somewhere also along that march of 
death—for the exiles died by tens and twenties every 
day of the journey—the devoted wife of John Ross 
sank down, leaving him to go on with the bitter pain 
of bereavement added to heartbreak at the ruin of his 
nation. The Ohio was crossed at the ferry near the 
mouth of the Cumberland, and the army passed on 
through southern Illinois until the great Mississippi 
was reached opposite Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It 
was now the middle of winter, with the river running 
full of ice, so that several detachments were obliged 
to wait some time on the eastern bank for the chan- 
nel to become clear. In talking with old men and 
women at Talequah the author found that the lapse of 
over half a century had not sufficed to wipe out the 
memory of the miseries of that halt beside the frozen 
river, with hundreds of sick and dying penned up in 
wagons or stretched upon the ground, with only a 
blanket overhead to keep out the January blast. The 
crossing was made at last in two divisions, at Cape 
Girardeau and at Green’s ferry, a short distance below, 
whence the march was on through Missouri to Indian 
Territory, the later detachments making a northerly 
eircuit by Springfield, because those who had gone 
before had killed off all the game along the direct 
route. At last their destination was reached. They 
had started in October, 1838, and it was now March, 


. 1839, the journey having occupied nearly six months 


of the hardest part of the year.’’—Historical sketch 
included in “Myths of the Cherokee,” 19th Annual 
Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 132-33. 


APPENDIX XV—12. 


REPLY OF SECRETARY CASS TO THE GOVERNOR 
OF ALABAMA, 


In his reply to Governor John Gayle, of Alabama, 
over the question of intruders in the Creek cession, 
Secretary Cass sustained the position of the President 
in carrying out the terms of the Creek Treaty. He 
said in part: “Since the ratification of this treaty, 
repeated representations have been made to this de- 
partment by the public agents, by respectable indi- 
viduals, and by the Indians, that gross and wanton 
outrages have been committed upon the latter, by 
persons who have intruded upon their ceded lands. It 
has been stated that the houses of the Indians have 
been forcibly taken possession of, and sometimes 
burnt, and the owners driven into the woods; that 
their fields and improvements have been wrested from 
them and occupied by white persons; that aggravated 
injuries have been committed upon the persons of In- 
dians; that their horses, cattle, hogs, and other prop- 
erty have been forcibly taken from them. . . . You 
suggest that the law of Alabama, providing for the 
removal of intruders by actions of forcible entry and 
detainer, would be found sufficient for the protection 
of the Indians, and propose proceedings under it 
should be adopted with that in view. To this sugges- 
tion, the President sees two objections. 

“Ist. The treaty expressly provides a different mode, 
and therefore leaves no discretion with the Executive; 
and 

“9d. There is every reason to fear that the remedy 
pointed out, would, if adopted, be found wholly insuf- 
ficient. * * *’—-Letter of Lewis Cass to Governor 
John Gayle, September 5, 1833.—Senate Document 512, 
Indian Removals, 1st Session 23d Congress, Vol. III, 


pp. 763-66. 
APPENDIX XV—13. 
THE SEMINOLE DAMON AND PYTHIAS 


In Niles’ ‘National Register’ of September 25, 1841, 
there appeared the following extract from a letter 
written by an army ‘officer who was on duty in 
Florida: 

“In my last hurried note to you I mentioned having 
witnessed a scene here a few days before which, in my 
humble judgment, put the famed story of Damon and 
Pythias quite in the shade. I will now give you some 
of the particulars. 

“A party of Indians was recently discovered by some 
of our troops, who succeeded in capturing three of 
their warriors; the rest of the party, consisting of 


796 


three men, and women and children, and numbering in 
all about twenty, fled. The captives were brought to 
this place, where they were interrogated by the Colo- 
nel (William J. Worth), during which it was discov- 
ered that two of them had been concerned in killing 
and burning a mail rider some time in March last. 
They were told that, for this cruel act of theirs, they 
would be hung within fifteen days, unless within that 
time the rest of their people should come in. They 
were then placed in chains and were permitted to 
send the third man of their party, with a talk, to bring 
in the rest of their people, while they were committed 
to the guard. The man thus sent out returned in 
five days, bringing with him a warrior by the name of 
Holate Fixico, and some women and children, among 
whom were the mother and sister of one of the pris- 
oners, whose name is Talof Hadjo. The scene which 
followed may be dramatized thus: 

“Scene, an open court in front of the commanding 
officer’s quarters—Indians discovered seated under the 
trees, among them Holate Fixico (Pythias), on the 
grass, in Indian posture—Talof Hadjo (Damon), in 
chains, on a bench, his head resting against the 
trunk of a tree, looking toward the heavens, with a 
countenance indicative of resignation—his mother and 
sister lying on the grass at his feet, the mother weep- 
ing at the fate which awaits her son—the colonel and 
other officers are discovered at a distance from the 
group of Indians. 

“Colonel, to Holate Fixico—Where are the rest of 
the people sent for? 

“Holate—They have separated and cannot be found. 
Your troops have scattered them and they have taken 
different paths. 

“Colonel—Know you not that, unless they are 
brought in, these men (pointing to the prisoners) will 
be hung? (A pause; the Indians disconsolate but ap- 
parently resigned.) If I send you out for the people, 
will you bring them in in time to save their lives? 

“Holate—They have gone off and I know not where 
to look for them. Like the frightened deer, they have 
fled at the presence of your troops. 

“Colonel—Indian can find Indian. If they are not 
here in ten days, these men will surely die. 

“Holate—The track of the Indians is covered; his 
path is hidden and may not be found in ten suns. 

“Colonel, to Talof—Have you a wife? 

“Talof—My wife and child are with the people. I 
aon them here that I may take leave of them before 

die. 

“Colonel—Do you love your wife and child? 
ie A es eat dog is fond of its kind; I love my own 

ood. 

“Colonel—Could you find your people who are out? 

“Talof—They are scattered and may not be found. 

“Colonel—Do you desire your freedom? 

“Talof—I see the people going to and fro and wish 
to be with them. I am tired of my chains. 

“Colonel—If I release you, will you bring in the 
people within the time fixed? 

“Talof—You would not trust me. Yet I would try. 

“Colonel—If Holate Fixico will consent to take your 
chains and be hung in your place if you should not 
return, you may go. (A long pause. Talof continues 
throughout the scene with his eyes fixed on the hea- 
vens—his mother and sister now cast imploring looks 
towards Holate, who, during the last few questions, 
has struggled to maintain his composure, evincing, by 
the heaving of his breast and his gasping, as though 
the rope were already about his neck, that he is ill at 
ease—all eyes are turned toward him—he recovers and 
with the utmost composure and firmness replies—) 

“Holate—I have no wife, or child, or mother. It is 
more fit that he should live than I. I consent to take 
his chains and abide his fate. Let him go. 

“Colonel—Be it so. But do not deceive yourselves. 
So sure as Talof Hadjo brings not in the people within 
ten days, Holate dies the death of a dog. 

“With the utmost solemnity the two Indians were 
then marched to the armory, where the chains were 
transferred and, in fifteen minutes after, Talof was on 
his journey. Yesterday a messenger arrived, bringing 
intelligence that Talof Hadjo was on his way in, with 
his people, and that he might be expected here to- 
morrow or next day.” 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XVI—1 
THE DRAGOON CAMPAIGNS TO THE ROCKY 
MOUNTAINS 


Briefly stated, ‘‘The Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky 
Mountains” was a small volume which was published 
in New York City in 1836. Its subject matter related 
entirely to the organization and earlier activities of 
the 1st Regiment of United States Dragoons, including 
particularly an account of the participation of that 
regiment in the Leavenworth-Dodge Expedition of 
1834. The book was published anonymously so far as 
its authorship was concerned. The writer first read 
this volume in 1907. He found it to be very interesting. 

The putative author of the Dragoon Campaigns to 
the Rocky Mountains claimed to have been born and 
reared on a western New York farm; also that, while 
on a visit in Buffalo, New York, he had been persuaded 
to enlist for service in the ist Regiment of United 
States Dragoons for which recruits were then being 
sought, preparatory to organization. From Buffalo he 
was sent with a small squad of other recruits by boat 


to Erie, Pennsylvania, where they all landed and took ° 


an overland conveyance to Pittsburgh. There, they 
met a much larger company of recruits who had en- 
listed in Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, 
and Baltimore. All of the recruits thus assembled at 
Pittsburgh were then marched aboard a river steam- 
boat by which they were transported down the Ohio 
and up the Mississippi to Jefferson Barracks, a few 
miles below St. Louis, where the new regiment was to 
have its rendezvous where it was to be organized, 
mobilized, and sent forth on its first expedition. It 
was from Jefferson Barracks that it marched to Fort 
Gibson, where it was to form part of the expeditionary 
force which was to be placed under the command of 
General Leavenworth. 

The author of “The Dragoon Campaigns” was pos- 
sessed of a sprightly, vivacious literary style. He also 
wrote with a degree of frankness that was unusual in 
military circles. It so happened that this regiment had 
been organized during Andrew Jackson’s second term 
as President. While many of the commissioned officers 
of this regiment were selected from other regiments 
already long in the service, it was openly charged at 
the time that, in several instances at least, the Presi- 
dent had used military commissions in paying off some 
of his political debts. The author of this volume was 
remarkably free in criticising the military shortcom- 
ings of such politically appointed officers. Parenthet- 
ically, the fact should also be mentioned that he 
claimed to have had a comrade who had seen military 
service in the British army. This British comrade is 
mentioned a number of times, finally receiving the 
nick-name of “Long Ned.” As indicated in his criti- 
cisms of inexperienced or untrained officers, the writer 
of this volume was possessed of such a thorough 
knowledge of military matters, discipline, etc., as 
could scarcely have been expected of a young soldier 
who had but recently emerged from a western New 
York farm. Furthermore, the author was seemingly 
well posted as to the world and its ways and as to 
life and its philosophy, as would have been practically 
impossible for a young man fresh from the farm. Con- 
sidering all of this, the writer hereof was forced to the 
independent conclusion that, so far as the Western 
New York farm boy was concerned, the authorship of 
“The Dragoon Campaigns” was a myth, and that the 
real author of the book must have been the alleged 
British comrade; also that, if the latter had been in 
the British army, it had not been as an enlisted man 
but as a commissioned officer. The further inference 
was that he had probably gotten into trouble which 
had forced him to throw up his commission and flee 
to America as a Self-exiled refugee. 

Five or six years after reading this volume, the 
writer had occasion to visit Vinita. While there, he 
spent an evening with the noted Cherokee leader, Colo- 
nel “Hooly” Bell. In the course of conversation, the 
writer happened to mention Dr. William L. G. Miller, 
an intermarried white man who came into prominence 
in the Cherokee Nation during the Civil War, when 
Colonel Bell exclaimed: ‘Pardon the interruption, but 
Dr. William L. G. Miller was one of the most remark- 


VS ee 


Soe i ae 


—- 


APPENDIX 


able men whom I ever knew.” (This was a very strong 
statement when the fact was borne in mind that Colo- 
nel Bell had represented the Cherokee Nation as an 
accredited delegate in Washington during nearly every 
Congressional session for ten or a dozen years). Colo- 
nel Bell then proceeded to tell what he knew and 
thought of Doctor Miller, as follows: 

“William L. G. Miller first came to the Cherokee 
Nation, in 1834, as an enlisted man in the Dragoon 
regiment. His stay was not a lengthy one, as the 
troops of that regiment were frequently shifted up 
and down the Western Frontier. He served three or 
four terms of enlistment—which were five years each 
at that time—so he saw service with the regiment 
until 1848 if not until 1853, including participation in 
the war with Mexico. 

“When he was finally discharged he returned to the 
Cherokee Nation where he married a young woman of 
unmixed Cherokee blood and settled down in a log 
cabin near the Grand River, where he made his home 
during the rest of his life. In this log cabin he gradu- 
ally accumulated the finest private library in the Cher- 
okee Nation, barring none. He also took up the study 
of medicine without a preceptor or instructor. After 
several years of diligent study, there being no law to 
the contrary, he began the active practice of medicine, 
in which he achieved an enviable degree of success, 
He also kept a small stock of drugs for the conveni- 
ence and recessities of people of that sparsely settled 
community. He gradually gained and always held the 
confidence, respect and friendship of the people who 
came to know him. 

“Unlike practically all of the other intermarried cit- 
izens of the Cherokee Nation, he remained loyal to the 
Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, though he 
took no active part in that struggle. When John Ross 
left the Cherokee Nation after the Federal troops had 
taken their permanent position at Fort Gibson in 1862, 
Doctor Miller went with him. Then he went to the 
White House and arranged for an interview between 
Ross and President Lincoln, later accompanying Ross 
to the White House, introducing him to the President 
and remaining as a personal witness to the interview. 
After the death of Ross, Doctor Miller became execu- 
tive secretary to Principal Chief Lewis Downing. After 
the death of Downing he served in a similar capacity 
with the succeeding full-blood chiefs, writing their 
messages and state papers and otherwise making him- 
self an able counsellor and helper. 

“When I was with Doctor Miller, I could never shake 
off the feeling that he was a scion of British nobility. 
He showed all the ear-marks of such a probable origin. 
In spirit, he was a true democrat, using the word in 
its unrestricted sense, and as whole-heartedly American 
as any native born citizen of this country could be. 
Despite all this, however, his well-bred culture be- 
trayed the fact that he was not born and reared amid 
plebeian surroundings. He always signed his name 
William L. G. Miller until late in life, when he occa- 
sionally wrote it William L. Gordon Miller. I have al- 
Ways suspected that Gordon was part of his real name 
—I never believed that Miller was a part of his true 
name. 

“Doctor Miller claimed to have served for many 
years in the United States Army. He also admitted 
that, before coming to this country he had served fora 
time in the British Army. I have always surmised 
that, if he had seen service in the British Army, it had 
been as a commissioned officer and not as an enlisted 
man. I would like to see a register of the gazetted 
personnel of the crack guard regiments of the British 
Army, for 1831-2-3, and then, if we knew his real 
name we would know something of the antecedents of 
this very remarkable man.” 

Needless to state, the writer hereof listened to 
Colonel Bell’s recital with almost breathless interest 
and, when the latter had concluded the writer ex- 
claimed, “Now, Colonel, I want to tell you a story,” 
following with a brief statement concerning the read- 
ing of the volume entitled ‘““‘The Dragoon Campaigns to 
the Rocky Mountains,” and the conclusions and infer- 
ences to which it had led, and ending by asking, 
“Colonel, do you see how these two accounts dove-tail 
together?” 

“Certainly! Miller wrote that book! I never heard 
of anore: but I know he wrote it. I would like to 
see it. 


.another item in a second-hand book catalogue. 


797 


The writer promised to see that Colonel Bell had a 
chance to read the book but the latter died a few 
months later and the writer never saw him again. As 
the writer had frequently pondered concerning the 
identity of the author of “The Dragoon Campaigns to 
the Rocky Mountains” before having had this inter- 
view with Colonel Bell, so, too, he subsequently began 
to wonder if it might not be that the author of that 
remarkable volume might not also have written a 
later volume in which there might be a clue to his 
antecedents. Almost unconsciously, in scanning cat- 
alogues of second-hand books, the writer began to 
look for a book the title of which he knew not and the 
authorship of which was almost certain to be anony- 
mous. Several years passed before his eye fell upon 
such a catalogue item, entitled “Reminiscences of a 
British Soldier in the American Army.” The book was 
ordered but had already been sold. A year and a half 
later another copy was located, ordered and secured. 
It was a great disappointment. It lacked the literary 
flavor which distinguished “The Dragoon Campaigns.” 
It proved to be the rather tedious tale of a Briton 
who came from London to New York in 1845, just in 
time to enlist in a battery of artillery and go through 
the Mexican War in the armies of General Taylor and 
Scott. The disappointment soon gave way to reassur- 
ance, however, with the thought that ‘this did not 
keep Miller from writing another book.” Six months 
later the writer was gladdened when his eye fell cat 

his 
item was entitled ‘‘Recollections of Service in the 
United States Army [as a Dragoon],” indicating that 
the last three words were supplementary and not a 
part of the title. The authorship of this work was 
hidden in the words “By an American Soldier.” This 
book was ordered and sec:red also. 

“Recollection of Service in the United States Army” 
proved to be a volume of short stories of service on 
the western frontier. Scenes were likewise located at 
Fort ———— vr some other fictitious post and regiments 
were desigrated as the “First Invincibles’ or some 
other title never bestowed upon any organization oc- 
curring in the United States Army. Its literary style 
comports very closely with that of the Dragoon Cam- 
paigns. Moreover it makes mention of “Long Ned.” 
In this book, in the third person, the author lifts the 
veil and tells us briefly of his forebears, of the high 
social station into which he had been born and of his 
life and career previous to his coming to America. 
He had been an officer in the British Army and he had 
Leas the heir to a British earldom, according to this 

ale. 

Although the authorship of both of the above men- 
tioned books has been frequently credited to one James 
Hildreth, it has always been with a measure of doubt 
on the part of the bibliographers. It has been sur- 
mised that possibly Hildreth actually was the Western 
New York farm boy, who might have been persuaded 
to smuggle the manuscript for “The Dragoon Cam- 
paigns” out of the West and find a publisher for it, 
after having been discharged from the military serv- 
ices for some good and sufficient reason. It is obvious 
that its publication under the name of the author 
would have led to serious disciplinary consequences to 
him had his responsibility for its authorship and pub- 
lication been suspected and proven. 

William L. G. Miller died about 1879. He left no 
children. The writer asked Colonel Bell what became 
of his library. He did not know, but subsequent inves- 
tigation disclosed the fact that Doctor Miller’s widow 
burned part of his library after his death and that a 
kinsman of hers burned the rest of it after her death, 
more than twenty years later. 

An effort was made to secure a transcript of Doctor 
Miller’s service with the lst United States Dragoons. 
This effort failed for the reason that the name of 
William L. G. Miller does not occur on the rolls or 
records of that famous old regiment. Plainly, if he 
changed his name when he crossed the sea and en- 
listed for service in the United States Army, he must 
have changed it again when he quit the army for 
civil life. 

If the publication of this account helps to enlighten 
the few surviving friends who pondered over his inter- 
esting personality and who were puzzled as to his 
antecedents, it must also quicken the curious interest 
of a host of Oklahoma people as to his real name, the 


798 


identity of the family from which he came, his rank 
in the British regiment in which he served and the 
name under which he served and the rank which he 
held in the Ist United States Dragoons. 


APPENDIX XVII—1. 
EARLY DESCRIPTION OF DWIGHT MISSION. 


“The mission family at the new station consists of 
missionaries, assistant missionaries, teachers and their 
children, Indians & negroes; the whole number 
amounting to about 100 persons. The negroes are 
slaves, belonging to people in the white settlements. 
The missionaries always endeavor to contract with the 
masters so that the slaves shall receive the reward of 
their labor & thus be able to buy their liberty. Many 
have consequently been relieved from bondage & 
some have become decidedly pious. The mission fam- 
ily dwell in many small houses & not in one large 
building as some have supposed. The houses are built 
of hewn logs, containing two rooms of common size on 
the floor & a garret where an adult may stand erect 
in the center. There is one large house, called ‘the 
store-house,’ two stories high, where the supplies of 
the American Board are deposited & all the corn & 
groceries which are procured from any quarter. Rev. 
Mr. Washburn is the oldest missionary & a man rich 
in faith & ‘always abounding in the work of the Lord.’ 
He occupies, with his wife and children, a two-story 
house with several small rooms. Some of these are 
reserved for company, such as missionaries from other 
stations, pecple from the forts, Cherokees who come 
to visit their children & any people who may be 
directed that way. Miss Stetson, who has the care of 
the girls out of school, lives in a one-story house with 
several rooms on the floor, where the little Indian 
girls sleep with no other accommodation than a blan- 
ket in which to wrap themselves as they lie down 
upon the floor. This is their accustomed mode of sleep- 
ing at home & they prefer this way at school. A piazza 
connects the house occupied by Miss Stetson with the 
one which contains the girls’ school-room & which is 
likewise used for evening prayer meetings. Mr. Asa 
Hitchcock, teacher ef the boys, occupies a house with 
several rooms which affords sleeping places for about 
fifty boys. A short distance from this house is a com- 
modious schoolhouse for the boys, which is also used 
for public worship cn the Sabbath. The house which 
contains the dining hall and kitchen is much longer 
than any other house, though it presents a front sim- 
ilar to the dwelling houses. This, together with the 
store-house & eight other dwelling houses, surrounds 
about an acre of ground of an oval form, which is 
beautifully interspersed with locust trees, affording a 
most refreshing shade during the sultry days of sum- 
mer. In this enclosure, the little Indian boys bound 
as nimbly as deer, among the trees, playing their mer- 
riest pranks during the recess of school & during the 
hour of setting sun, before the bell rings for evening 
prayers. The teacher of these boys remarked that 
they were perhaps as easily governed as the same 
number of white children could be; being tractable, he 
expected they would, if continued in school, become 
quite proficient in many branches of an English edu- 
cation. 

“The missionaries endeavor to exhibit to the poor 
Indians, as far as practicable, all that is lovely & ex- 
cellent in the different departments of family manage- 
ment & therefore consider it necessary for all to eat 
at the same table. Each family have in their own 
house some accommodations for cooking on a limited 
scale but expediency allows them to enjoy this priv- 
ilege only when sickness requires it. 

“There is so much sameness in the business of every 
day that perhaps a knowledge of the routine of one 
day will give an idea of the manner of spending time 
generally at this station. During the summer, the 
bell (which is the size of a common wash bowl) rings 
at half past six o’clock in the morning, when all the 
different families surround the domestic altar for 
prayers in their own dwellings. At seven, the bell 
rings for breakfast, when all are seen bending their 
steps, with much decorum, to the dining hall, where 
each one takes his accustomed seat with as little con- 
fusion as possible. Six tables are so arranged as to 
accommodate all the family. These are covered with 


APPENDIX 


cotton sheeting & the knives and forks are placed in 
order around them, while the cups & saucers & 
earthen plates for the adults & tin dippers & pewter 
plates for the children are placed together at the head 
of the tables. At the first table sit Rev. Mr. Washburn 
& wife with their five children and Cherokee boys. At 
the second table, Mr. Orr, farmer, with his wife & one 
child, Mr. Gray, mechanic, & the white men who are 
hired to labor on the farm & any strangers may hap- 
pen to be present. At the third table, Mr. Asa Hitch- 
cock, teacher, wife & five children, Miss Esther 
Smith, teacher & Cherokee boys. At the fourth table, 
Mr. Jacob Hitchcock, steward, wife & five children, 
Miss Thrall, teacher of the missionaries’ children ex- 
clusively, three orphan children of Rev. Mr. Finney & 
Cherokee boys. At the fifth table, Mrs. Joslyn, teacher, 
with her infant, Miss Stetson, teacher, Maria, an Osage 
captive 18 years old, & Cherokee girls. At the sixth 
table, Rev. Mr. Lockwood & myself with Cherokee 
girls. Maria is a very interesting character, is decid- 
edly pious & renders important service to the teachers 
in their schools. She is very anxious respecting her 
own nation & prays abundantly for them. 

“In 1833 & 1834 so severe a drought was experienced 
at this station that only three bushels of potatoes were 
raised from thirty bushels that were planted. A gar- 
den of an acre and a half was filled with a variety of 
seeds & every possible way of watering it artificially 
was practiced, but all in vain, not a single root was fit 
for cooking. Consequently our meals afforded but little 
change. The breakfast invariably consisted of coffee, 
with a little milk & occasionally sugar or molasses, 
hommony & corn bread, with meat, which is always 
stewed. Benches surround the table as substitutes for 
chairs. All being seated, a signal for silence is given, 
when a blessing is implored and the food is eaten with 
great stillness. Before rising from the table, a portion 
of Scripture is read, accompanied with some practical 
observations, & then all kneel while prayer is offered 
to our Father in Heaven, who is no respector of per- 
sons. After prayers, all go to their respective em- 
ployments. The boys, under the care of the superin- 
tendent, go to the fields. The girls, except those who 
remain in the kitchen, return with Miss Stetson to 
her house, where she instructs them in reading & 
spelling &c., & in various kinds of needlework, both 
plain and ornamental. The ladies of the mission alter- 
nate in the duty of remaining in the dining hall & 
kitchen to instruct the girls in the various branches 
of domestic affairs. At nine o’clock, the bell calls the 
children from labor to prepare for school. At twelve 
o’clock, they are dismissed from study & allowed to 
amuse themselves till dinner. The boys play in one 
grove & the girls in another. They are never per- 
mitted to play together. At half past twelve the din- 
ner is ready, when each one takes his seat as in the 
morning. This meal consists simply of some kind of 
meat, generally pork, sometimes beef & occasionally 
venison, cold corn bread & cold water. The water was 
indeed a luxury, being of an excellent quality. Two 
or three times a year, a suet or rice pudding was 
afforded, which was, of course, a great rarity. Once 
our breakfast table was furnished with a dish of 
doughnuts sufficient to allow one to each individual. 
It was amusing to see the children receive & preserve 
their doughnuts as the children of the East would 
some foreign luxury. The Cherokee children are very 
healthy & eat their food with great avidity, sometimes 
practicing, without liberty, their former mode of eat- 
ing—using their fingers instead of knives and forks. 
After dinner all go to their different employments till 
summoned to supper. This meal consists of black tea, 
without sugar, hommony with little milk, cold corn 
bread & occasionally butter. After supper & evening 
prayers, the children enjoy some innocent recreation 
while the adults are engaged in finishing the work of 
the day. Thus substantially passes each day of the 
week except the Sabbath. During the forenoon of this 
holy day, public worship is performed in English for 
the more particular benefit of the mission family. By 
the time of the close of the services, the Cherokees 
from a distance arrive, so that the house in the after- 
noon is nearly filled with Indians & the services in 
the afternoon are conducted in the native language. 
The missionary requests a native to read a hymn in 
Cherokee, in which all present unite in singing. The 


APPENDIX 


effect of the music of these native voices upon one un- 
accustomed to hear them is very peculiar. After sing- 
ing, a Cherokee is called upon to pray, & no one ever 
declines & though I could not understand a single 
sentence, my mind ,was solemnly impressed by their 
devotional & earnest manner. The sermon was 
preached in English & interpreted to the people. Some 
of the pious Cherokees always make addresses after 
the sermon & it is exceedingly interesting to see with 
what earnestness these converted heathen speak to 
their relatives & friends. Much difficulty is found in 
giving instruction through an interpreter. It is very 
desirable to have a pious interpreter lest a differ- 
ent coloring be given to the truth from what is 
intended. Much more time is consumed in giving in- 
struction in this way & the force of the sentences is 
often lost by the unnatural pauses which necessarily 
occur. Notwithstanding these difficulties, it is some- 
times enough to kindle all the tender emotions of the 
soul to witness the tearful eye, or the happy expres- 
sion of the features exhibited by many of these com- 
paratively untaught worshippers, when hearing about 
the way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer. 
The fixed attention & the stillness of the people, dur- 
ing their services on the Sabbath, would be a reproof 
to many more enlightened congregations. The Sab- 
bath school is held immediately after the afternoon 
service, when those who know nothing of our language 
retire to an adjacent cabin to enjoy a little season of 
prayer.’—Manuscript of letters of Mrs. Cassandra 
Sawyer Lockwood, ‘‘Descriptive of her journey to the 
Cherokee Nation in 1833-34 and of her experiences and 
observations at Dwight Mission in 1834-385.” 


APPENDIX XVII—2. 
THE STORY OF MARIA JAMES. 


The story of Maria James was related in a letter 
written by Reverend Cephas Washburn, which is to 
be found in Dr. Emmet Starr’s “Cherokees West,” pp. 
71-75. Mr. Washburn wrote in part as follows: 

“T shall relate to you the leading incidents in the 
history of another Osage captive, with whom you are 
personally acquainted. Maria James, who was edu- 
cated in our school at Dwight, and continued to live 
at the Mission until her marriage. Her capture was in 
the last battle fought between the Cherokees and 
Osages. At that time she was about three years old. 
Her captor was Blackcoat, one of the influential chiefs. 
Subsequently he was elected for four years as assistant 
principal chief, in which office he died. Though a 
brave warrior, Blackcoat was a kind-hearted man. He 
treated his little captive with great tenderness and, 
on his return home, with the cordial acquiescence of 
his wife, he adopted her as his daughter, they having 
no daughters of their own. Thus the little stranger 
found a quiet and good home and her foster parents 
cared for her with much affection. She had lived thus 
happily for a year and a half or two years, when a sad 
and cruel reverse came upon her. Not many miles 
from the residence of Blackcoat lived a citizen of the 
Territory of Arkansas by the name of McBee. In some 
way he learned that Blackcoat had an Osage captive, 
and felt a strange desire to make the acquaintance of 
the chief. He visited frequently at Blackcoat’s house, 
expressing a very friendly regard for him and quite 
an interest in the welfare of all his family. When 
he perceived that he had made a favorable impression 
on the mind of the chief, he then proceeded to relate 
his domestic affliction. Though he had been married 
for some ten years, he said he had no children and his 
domestic hearth was desolate. He expressed a great 
desire to have a little girl like Blackcoat’s Osage cap- 
tive, saying if he had such an one he would adopt her 
and make ker his heir. Blackcoat replied: ‘White peo- 
ple know much more than we Indians and raise their 
children better than we; you can do much more for 
this little girl than I can. I give her to you.’ 

“McBee was delighted; but he told the chief that a 
written conveyance must be given to secure his title 
to the child, else the government would require him to 
part with her whenever peace should be made with the 
Osages; that, to render such a written conveyance 
valid in law, it was necessary that he should make him 
some consideration. So it was agreed that McBee 
should give the chief a cow and calf, worth at that 


799 


time from eight to ten dollars; that, for this considera- 
tion, he should have the little Osage child secured to 
him by a lawful ‘bill of sale.’ All this was done with- 
out awakening in the mind of Blackcoat any suspicion 
of fraud; Fut no sooner did McBee get possession of 
the little girl than he ran off about forty miles down 
the river, where ae found a man by the name of 
McCall, to whom he sold her for three hundred dollars. 

“McCall immediately placed her in a canoe and 
started with her for Louisiana, where he hoped to sell 
her into perpetual slavery for a handsome advance 
upon the price he had paid for her. In descending 
the river, he camped one night a few miles above the 
Post of Arkansas. Near the same place a boat had also 
stopped for the night. The watermen attached to this 
boat were Frenchmen and, seeing the light of McCall’s 
fire, they visited, as is usual, his camp. Their attention 
was soon attracted to the little girl and they inquired 
about her. McCall said she was a mulatto slave that 
he was taking down to Louisiana to sell. The water- 
men, observing the child’s complexion, her straight 
hair and perforated ears, suspected at once that all 
was not right. They returned to their own boat and 
two of them immediately started for the post to notify 
the governor of these suspicious appearances, 

“In the morning the governor’s proclamation was 
out, offering a liberal reward for the rescue of the 
child and an additional reward for the apprehension 
of McCall, who, in the meantime, was on his rapid way 
to the Mississippi River ard thence to Louisiana. The 
two Frenchmen got a light and swift-running canoe 
and, armed with the governor’s proclamation as well 
as with rifles, started in pursuit. When they got to 
the Mississippi, they learned from settlers that McCall 
had some six hours the start of them and that he was 
making his utmost speed. They rushed on and pursued 
their chase till within a few miles of the Louisiana 
line, when they descried at the bank, near a settler’s 
cabin, a small part of the bow of a canoe; all the rest 
of it was intentionally sunk. They hastily approached 
and examined it and, to their joy found that it was the 
bow of McCall’s canoe, pushed to the shore, and ap- 
proached the cabin. Thrcugh the ‘chinks’ of the cabin, 
they discovered the little girl, of whom they took in- 
stant possession and inquired for the man who brought 
her there. She answered that he had stopped to get 
breakfast and had now stepped out for a moment. 
His steps were soon heard approaching the cabin; but 
as he heard voices within, he, too, looked through the 
‘chinks’ and, seeing the little girl sitting upon the lap 
of one of the watermen, whom he instantly recognized, 
he turned his course and made a rapid flight for the 
canebrake near at hand, The men pursued him but he 
made gooi his retreat to the canebrake and eluded 
their search. 

“The faithful men returned with their interesting 
charge and committed her to the protection of Gov- 
ernor Miller. They richly earned their reward. Shortly 
after this, Rev. Mr. Finney, returning from New Or- 
leans, stopped at the Post and called on the governor. 
To him she was committed and placed in our school 
till she should be cluimed by her own people. No such 
claim was ever presented and she continued to reside 
at the Mission until, she was married. She was 
perhaps five or six years old when received into the 
Mission school. As yet, she had none but an Indian 
name and Miss Stetson, the teacher of the female 
school, named her Maria James, in memory of a 
Christian friend of her own in New England.” 

Maria James grew up at the Mission and became 
especially endeared to those who knew her, serving as 
a teacher at Dwight for a number of years. She after- 
ward married William Pettit, a Cherokee, who died in 
1852 and was buried at Fairfield Mission. Mrs. Pettit 
later rented her farm and returned to Dwight that she 
might educate her children, remaining until the out- 
break of the Civil War. She and her family, with a 
number of Cherokees, were refugees in the Choctaw 
country during a part of the time that the conflict was 
raging, staying in the vicinity of Goodland. In 1884, 
having discovered some of her kinsmen among the 
Osages, she returned to live among them, after a Sep- 
aration of sixty-five years. Most of her grandchildren 
are residents of Osage County today. 

Mrs. Pettit, or “Aunt Maria,” as she was most affec- 
tionately called, was held in kindly remembrance by 


800 


her old neighbors in the vicinity of Dwight Mission, 
for she was a woman who “abounded in good works.” 
Mr. John M. Robe, superintendent of the Dwight Indian 
Training School (Presbyterian U. S. A.), writing in 
1918 concerning her reputation in that community a 
generation after her death concluded with the follow- 
ing statement: “Everyone speaks of the good works 
of Mrs. Pettit and there is no question in my mind 
that, had no other work been done by this old school 
than to educate Maria James it was well worth all it 
cost.” 

The following proclamation of Governor Miller ap- 
peared in the Arkansas Gazette for three weeks, be- 
ginning with July 31, 1822: 


100 DOLLARS REWARD 


“Whereas, SAMUEL McCALL, late of Pulaski County, 
Arkansas Territory, purchased an OSAGE GIRL who 
was taken prisoner by the Cherokees in the fall of 
1821, and kas carried her out of this Territory, and, 
Whereas, it is believed that the said McCall intends to 
make a SLAVE of said prisoner, contrary to the laws 
and policy of the Government of the United States: 
Therefore— 

I, JAMES MILLER, Governor of the Territory of 
Arkansas, and ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Af- 
fairs, do hereby offer a reward of SEVENTY-FIVE 
DOLLARS to any person who will rescue the said 
Osage prisoner and return her safe to me, or to any 
respectable citizen on the Arkansas River, and give me 
information so that I may obtain her. She is about 
seven or eight years old, remarkably fleshy, straight 
hair and not very black, with her ears cut according to 
the Indian custom. 

A reward of TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS will also 
be given for apprehending and securing the said SAM- 
UEL McCALL in any jail in this Territory. He is 
about thirty-five years of age, about five feet eight 
inches in height, sandy hair, large whiskers, fair com- 
plexion and fond of talking. 

It has been reported that the said McCall was seen 
with the prisoner on the Mississippi River, near Stock 
Island and intended stopping in that vicinity. 


JAMES MILLER. 
Little Rock, A. T., July 20, 1822.” 

The Arkansas Gazette of November 5, 1822, an- 
nounces the recovery of the Osage girl by a citizen of 
Point Chicot, who left her with Eli J. Lewis, of Ar- 
kansas Post. 

It is possibly interesting to note that the governor 
who offered the reward for the rescue of the little 
Osage girl, was none other than Col. James Miller, the 
hero of Lundy’s Lane, who when asked if he could take 
a certain dangerous battery, gave the laconic answer 
“T’ll try, sir.” Colonel Miller, whose home was in New 
Hampshire, was appointed governor of Arkansas Ter- 
ritory at its organization by President James Monroe. 
He took an active interest in the efforts to promote 
peace between the Cherokee and Osage tribes of In- 
dians. 


APPENDIX XVII—=3. 


A VISIT TO FAIRFIELD AND DWIGHT MISSIONS 
IN 1844. 


Dr. Butler was the minister in charge of the sta- 
tion. He was a Presbyterian, had labored for a period 
of nineteen years with that people, having commenced 
his labors with them before they emigrated from the 
old nation in the state of Georgia. Himself and family 
had an experience in labor, in trial, and suffering, 
which langvage may not record, and for which there 
is no compensation on this side of heaven. 

We found Dr. Butler sitting in an arm-chair, in a 
dark room, prepared to spend the night in that posi- 
tion. He was suffering with asthma to such an extent 
as to render it impossible for him to lie upon a bed 
and sleep in a recumbent position. For many suc- 
cessive nights he had been compelled to sit alone in 
his dark chamber while the hours were slowly pass- 
ing. 

At the ring of the bell we were admitted, with a 
brotherly and Christian cordiality that was truly 
grateful to our hearts at the end of our day’s jour- 
ney. Mrs. B., being indisposed, did not rise; but Miss 
Smith, the teacher of the Mission school, and two fine 
Cheroxee misses, who were about fourteen years of 


APPENDIX 


age, came, 9nd in a few minutes prepared us a sub- 
stantial tea. 

We were impressed with the good sense and economy 
which characterized, as far as we could discover, the 
entire establishment. There were no servants; Mrs. 
B., Miss Smith, and six Cherokee girls, who had been 
received into the family, did the kitchen and chamber 
work. The girls were not treated as servants, but 
daughters; they were neat, intelligent, and sufficiently 
comely to pass reputably in any society. The furni- 
ture of the mission was very plain, and yet comfor- 
table; while the table was destitute of every article 
that might be considered a luxury, yet the food was 
good, substantial, and of sufficient variety. 

The family worship was orderly and remarkably 
interesting. Each member of the family was supplied 
with a Bible and hymn-book; and they also had books 
to be used by strangers who should chance to worship 
at their altar. Dr. B. commenced the reading—each 
one reading his verse in turn ‘‘from the greatest down 
to the least.” The hymn was announced, and sung 
by all; after which we kneeled, and Rev. Mr. Goode 
was requested to lead in prayer. 

The same system and order prevailed both at Park 
Hill and Dwight missions, which was subsequently 
visited. 

The school at Fairfield was not a boarding seminary, 
but a ‘‘day school,” and free to all. The population in 
the vicinity was dense, and the school was well at- 
tended, mostly by girls, yet boys of a small size were 
also admitted. Miss Smith’s school-room was well 
supplied with maps, cards, and globes for purposes 
of illustration. We saw no others so well and so con- 
veniently furnished. 

There was a good farm in connection with the mis- 
sion, the product of which nearly supplied the demands 
of the family. The needed supplies of horses, oxen, 
and milk cows were not wanting. We were gratified 
to learn that Dr. B.’s congregations were good, and 
his Church composed of substantial and pious men and 
women. A large and prosperous Sunday school was a 
most interesting appendage of the mission.—Benson’s 
“Life Among the Choctaws,” pp. 229-31. 

Upon their arrival at the seat of the conference, 
Messrs. Goode and Benson were taken to the Park 
Hill Mission and entertained as guests in the home 
of Rev. S. A. Worcester, who was superintendent. 
Of their visit there, Mr. Benson wrote as follows: 

On reaching Tahlequah Mr. Goode and myself were 
taken to Park Hill, and introduced to the family of 
the Rev. Mr. Worcester, with whom we were kindly 
entertained during the session of the conference. 

Park Hill was a missionary station of much note, 
Mr. Worcester was the superintendent of the establish- 
ment, and was eminently qualified for the important 
position. There was a good farm; a frame church 
of proper size; a good frame school-house; a two-story 
building used for a book establishment, having its 
printing presses and book bindery. There were two 
frame buildings, each two stories high, for family 
residences, occupied by Mr. Worcester and by Rev. 
D. Foreman, who was a Cherokee, and connected with 
the mission. The Scriptures were translated and 
printed in the Cherokee and Choctaw languages at 
Park Hill. Hymn-books, tracts, spelling-books, and 
readers were also translated and published there. 
John Candy, a Cherokee, was foreman in setting 
type, and W. Worcester, a son of Rev. Mr. Worcester, 
was the head workman in the bindery. The school was 
taught by a Miss Avery, who was an accomplished 
and interesting young lady. 

There was also a Miss Thompson in the family, who 
taught a school a short distance from Park Hill, 
with whose character and history we were deeply 
interested. She was certainly a model missionary, 
having consecrated upon the Divine altar her “body 
and spirit, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable in 
God’s sight.’”’ She had gone into the Cherokee coun- 
try when a young lady; tad emigrated with the In- 
dians from the State of Georgia to their present home; 
and labored in the Park Hill School till she thought 
herself to have grown old; when, at the earnest 
solicitations of her relatives, she returned to her New 
England hcme, to spend the evening of her life with 
the surviving companions of her youth. She was 
extremely happy to meet with loved ones from whom 


— 


APPENDIX 


she had been separated for a score of years. They 
gave her a most affectionate welcome to their hearts 
and homes, and did all within their power to contrib- 
ute to her comfort and happiness. When a few 
weeks had elapsed, and her round of visiting was com- 
pleted, she began to look around for work. She longed 
to be useful; but there were no open doors for such 
labor as her habits of life had qualified her for and 
given her tastes to enter upon and accomplish. Her 
soul longed for its appropriate work; she could not 
live in idleness, and must be wretched if she failed 
to be useful. The truth finally flashed upon her 
that she had committed a blunder; that it was an 
error to quit the Indians. She hastily made a sec- 
ond round of visits, bidding her New England friends 
a final farewell, and returned to her adopted people, 
with the language of Ruth to Naomi in her heart, if 
not upon her lips, ‘“‘Whither thou goest, I will go; 
and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people 
shall be my people; and thy God, my God; where thou 
diest, I will die, and there will I be buried.” 

On returning to Park Hill she found her place in 
the mission filled by another; but she was rather 
pleased to find it so, for she went out a mile and a 
half distant, and opened a new school, which was soon 
filled with children that otherwise would not have 
been taught. She walked back and forth, making her 
home wtih her old friends of the mission; and she 
was cheerful and happy in her work, intending to 
live, die, and be buried with her Cherokee friends. 
Whether she still survives, or has fallen at her post, 
I know not; but generations yet unborn shall rise up 
to call her blessed.—Ibid., pp. 231-34. 

Mr. Benson was evidently in error as to Miss 
Thompson having revisited her old home in New Eng- 
land, as the missionary directory of Spooner & How- 
land’s “History of American Missions to the Heathen” 
contains the following brief record of her life and 
service down to 1840: “Nancy Thompson, Blount Co., 
Tenn.; born, Washington Co., Va., March 20, 1792; 
arrived at Haweis, ————, 1826; Willstown, March, 
1833; Park Hill, ————.” Miss Thompson is believed 
to have come to Park Hill with the family of the 
founder of that mission station, Rev. S. A. Worcester, 
in 1886; she probably continued to labor at or near 
Park Hill until wartime conditions put an end to her 
work. Where she was during the war, is not recorded 
but after its close, she made her way to the Talla- 
hassee Mission, among the Creek people, where she 
found a home in the family of Mrs. A. E. W. Robert- 
Son, who was a daughter of Doctor Worcester. There 
she made herself useful in the service of others, down 
to the end of her life. She died at the advanced age 
of eighty-nine, in the spring of 1881. The famous 
General Sam Houston and she were neighbors and 
friends in their youthful days. 

After briefly reciting the persecution and imprison- 
ment of his host at Park Hill, Mr. Benson concluded 
his remarks concerning the mission and mission work- 
ers there in the following language: 

“T had read of missionaries—of Brainerd, of Eliot, 
and others—but hitherto I had seen none whom 
regarded as worthy of the appellation. These had 
passed through fiery ordeals and had stood firm. They 
had suffered willingly for Christ’s sake, only claiming 
rewards in Heaven. They were not missionaries for 
a month or a year, but for life; and no man is really 
a missionary who does not cheerfully give all to the 
great work of evangelizing the world.’”—TIbid., p. 239. 

On their way home from Tahlequah to Fort Coffee, 
Messrs. Goode and Benson visited the Dwight Mission, 
which was described in Mr. Benson’s book as follows: 

“Having chosen to return home by a new route, 
Wwe reached Dwight Mission at sunset, traveling about 
thirty miles. It was a Presbyterian mission and the 
oldest one in the tribe, having been founded in the 
old nation [i. e., among the Western Cherokees, in 
Arkansas] and reéstablished immediately after their 
arrival in the new territory. Mr. Hitchcock was super- 
intendent; he was a layman and managed the farm 
and the temporal interests of the station. There was 
a female seminary in which the pupils were taught 
and boarded, but not clothed. Mr. Day and his wife 
were teachers of the school, and Mrs. Hitchcock was 
matron. There were over forty fine buxom lassies in 
attendance, from ten to sixteen years of age—many 


Okla—51 


Sor 


of them were very interesting, sprightly and promis- 
ing girls. Mr. Hitchcock and family had been with the 
tribe for twenty-four years, engaged in missionary 
work. They received no salaries from the Missionary 
Board; the entire annual appropriations to Dwight 
Mission amounted to only fourteen hundred dollars. 
There was an excellent farm, well cultivated and well 
stocked, the produce of which nearly sustained the 
mission. All were taught to labor, and economy and 
frugality were thoroughly studied and practiced in 
every department. There was a plain, comfortable 
church but no efficient pastor in connection with it 
at that time. 

“Rev. Mr. Buttrick and his aged companion were 
there, but not as active as laborers in the mission. 
He was then superannuated, having retired from the 
active duties of the ministry. He could preach oc- 
casionally but not with regularity, nor had he the 
strength to perform pastoral labor. Father Buttrick 
had been twenty-seven years in the Cherokee tribe, 
laboring to establish and build up the cause of the 
Redeemer. His children were grown up and all settled 
in the east. They had earnestly urged their parents 
to return home and spend the evening of their days 
with them. But, after mature deliberation, himself 
and wife had resolved to end their pilgrimage with 
their Indian people. They had come to Dwight for 
the sake of the society; and, having fitted up a com- 
fortable log cabin, they enjoyed a quiet retreat from 
the busy and exciting scenes of the world. With a 


good library and the desired papers and magazines, 


and with the privileges of the church and the society 
of kind and sympathizing Christian friends, they were 
cheerful and happy, and patiently waiting the Master’s 
summons to take them home to Heaven. Our inter- 
view was from necessity brief, but full of interest, to 
us at least; as we rose to take our leave, Father 
Buttrick interposed his paternal authority: ‘Come,’ 
said he, ‘this will not do, remain a few minutes long- 
er, for we must not separate without prayer!’ The 
little company joined in singing one of the songs of 
Zion, after which we all Kneeled and Mr. Goode led 
the devotions. We can never forget that devout and 
holy man of God, who, with patriarchal simplicity and 
fervor, stood up and invoked Heaven’s benediction 
upon us as we bid him a final adieu. Since that pe- 
riod the papers have announced the departure of that 
aged disciple of the Lord. He has slept the long and 
dreamless sleep of death. His cold remains repose in 
the little churchyard at the Dwight Mission, with In- 
dian graves all around.”’—Ibid., pp. 255-57. 


APPENDIX XVII—4. 


REPORT OF THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS IN A LET- 
TER TO M. DUVAL, ESQ., FORT GIBSON. 


Spring Place, August 1, 1844. 

“Dear Sir: On account of sickness and various 
business matters, your request was deferred: which 
remissness on our part we hope you will pardon. I 
will now proceed to give you, as accurately as pos- 
sible, an account of the state and prospects of the 
mission of the United Brethren’s Church (commonly 
called Moravians) among the Cherokees. Let me, 
however, first go back a few years, in order to give 
you a brief historical sketch of our work. 

“When the Cherokees emigrated to this country, 
three of our missionaries (the reverend Messrs. John 
R. Smith, Miles Vogler, and Mr. Ruede) followed, and, 
with the permission of the council, commenced a 
station on Barren Fork, where the most of our people 
had settled. This place, however, proved sickly, and 
the missionaries (Mr. and Mrs. Vogler and Mr. Ruede) 
moved to Baitie’s Prairie in the autumn of the follow- 
ing year, and received the consent of council to settle 
there—having a prospect of a large school, and with 
the expectation that the members of the church would 
soon follow and settle around them. But our people 
seemed unwilling to settle there, and it was therefore 
determined by our board to commence another station 
at the head of Spring Creek, about half-way between 
Baitie’s Prairie and Barren Fork, to which place 
(Spring Creek) one family had already moved, and 
others were on the point of doing the same; and, to 
this end, Messrs. G. Bishop and David Smith were 


802 


constituted missionaries by the board, and, in the 
autumn of 1841, despatched as a reinforcement. The 
request of the board to commence a school at Spring 
Creek was laid before the then sitting council, who, 
however, refused to grant it. At the next session of 
council (in the autumn of 1842) a petition of our peo- 
ple, and of many friends of the missionary cause in 
the nation, was brought before the council, and per- 
mission was at length given; whereupon Messrs. 
Ruede and Bishop moved to this place, and, as soon 
as possible, commenced keeping school. As it is the 
desire of our board first to benefit those who have 
come under our influence by church membership, and 
afterwards others, Spring Place will become the prin- 
cipal station of our operations; and to this end we 
are now about preparing suitable buildings. The 
number of baptized adults belonging to our church 
in the nation is 47, (three of whom have been suspend- 
ed,) viz: 20 at Spring Place; 7 at Barren Fork; 1 at 
Baitie’s Prairie, and 9 dwelling at different places. 
About 45 baptized children are under our immediate 
care; besides these, however, there are a number of 
children and youth baptized by our missionaries, who 
live scattered about in the nation. The total, there- 
fore, of children and adults under our influence at 
Baitie’s Prairie, Spring Place, and Barren Fork, is 
about 90. We visit Barren Fork, generally, every four 
weeks; while at the two other places divine worship 
is held every Sabbath. Both our schools conducted 
at Baitie’s Prairie and Spring Place are neighborhood 
schools, on account of the expense attending boarding 
schools, and our board being burdened with a heavy 
debt. Our school at Baitie’s Prairie has always been 
quite flourishing—numbering, almost every session, 
between 30 and 40 scholars, and sometimes above; the 
settlement being such a one where the value of 
schools is understood. The settlement around Spring 
Place may be termed a full [full-blood] Cherokee 
settlement; such a one, therefore, which is in most 
want of benefit from missionaries. In the autumn of 
1842, when the school was first opened (being then 
a new thing), there were about forty scholars on the 
school list, who attended within a circuit of three 
miles around us; but more than half soon dropped off: 
and it has always required great patience, on the 
part of the teacher, on account of irregularity. The 
heathen portion, and a great part of the Christian 
full Cherokees, have not yet learned the value of 
schools, or at least are very indifferent about them; 
and, even if they perceive their importance, do not 
exercise any control over their children; so that these 
will not attend, unless they themselves get interested 
in them. Upon the whole, it is my firm belief that 
the children of the full Cherokees at present can be 
benefited only by means of boarding schools, though 
these have always been very burdensome to the mis- 
sionaries. The missionary work among the Cherokees 
seems to be improving, and meetings are better at- 
tended than formerly; and it appears that the preju- 
dice which existed against miSsionaries, and the whites 
in general, is growing fainter and fainter; which, I 
think, by a prudent policy, and a parental treatment 
on the part of the United States Government, may 
finally die away. 

“Tf in future, you have any need of information 
from us, it shall always, if it is in our power to give 
you any, be at your service. 

Yours, with respect, 
“DAVID Z. SMITH.” 
M. Duval, Esq., Fort Gibson. 

—Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1844, 

pp. 396-97. 


APPENDIX XVII—5. 


REV. LOUGHRIDGE’S LETTER REGARDING THE 
TALLAHASSEE MISSION. 


f “Creek Agency, September 21, 1848. 

“Dear Sir: I have the honor to inform you that on 
last evening I received a letter from Walter Lowrie, 
Esq., Secretary of our Board of Missions, dated 29th 
August, in which he says: ‘I have received from the 
War Department a circular requiring information to 
be given to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs (Mr. 
Rutherford), as follows: The situation of the build- 
ings, the progress that has been made in their erec- 
tion, and the probable time when the establishment 
will be ready for the reception of scholars.’ 

I therefore hasten to comply with this requisition 


APPENDIX 


in regard to the Creek manual labor boarding school 
under the care of the Presbyterian board of foreign 
missions. 

1. “The situation of the buildings.” These are 
pleasantly situated between the Arkansas and Verdi- 
gris rivers, about one and one-half miles from the 
former, and two miles from the latter; about two and 
one-fourth miles from the Creek agency, and about 
three miles from the steamboat landing. They are 
placed upon a high, dry, and beautiful ridge, con- 
nected with a good body of land for cultivation, and 
we think the situation will prove as healthy as the 
country affords. It is well supplied with wood and 
water. 

2. “The progress that has been made in their erec- 
tion.” A report of this has lately been made through 
our agent to the government. I will, however, again 
state that we have erected several buildings at the 
new station, viz.: a double log house one and one-half 
stories high, with two rooms below and two above, 
18 by 16 feet each, hewed inside and out. This is 
intended for a dwelling house at present, and for a 
workshop for the boys when the school is put in 
operation; a large and substantial hewed log meat- 
house, 20 feet square; a crib and stable, 14 by 20 feet 
each, with a cutting-room between of 6 by 20, all 
covered under the same roof. A large well has been 
dug, affording excellent water, and has been walled 
up with stone. Other improvements are being made 
at the station which will be important for the success- 
ful operation of the school, as soon as the main build- 
ing is finished. The work on the main building has 
been much hindered for the want of good and respon- 
sible workmen. But that difficulty has been over- 
come; good workmen have been obtained, and the 
work is going forward vigorously. The stone founda- 
tions, which are very substantial, are nearly complete. 
The brick for the building are nearly all made. All 
parts of the work are progressing very well; and we 
think this extensive building will be completed as 
soon as could be reasonably expected from the na- 
ture of the case. 

3. “The probable time when the establishment will 
be ready for the reception of scholars.” If the calcula- 
tions of the workmen be correct, we will probably be 
ready by the ist of July next. 

I will also beg leave to report, that— 

4, The expenditures for the school and farm, for 
the erection of buildings, purchase of wagon and 
team, furniture, &c., &c., amount to about $3,639.37. 
Other accounts will soon be due, which will swell the 
sum considerably more. The vouchers for these ex- 
penditures will be forwarded to W. Lowrie, esq., New 
York, from whom I have received the money, and who 
will settle with the government for the same. 

With much esteem, I remain your obedient servant, 

R. M. LOUGHRIDGE. 
GENERAL SAMUEL M. RUTHERFORD, 
Acting Sup’t, &c., Western Territory, 
Choctaw Agency. 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

1848, pp. 523-24. 


APPENDIX XVII—6. 
MISSION PUBLISHING HOUSE AT PARK HILL. 


“When I first went to see Doctor Worcester he 
questioned me particularly as to my knowledge of 
the language and asked me to write for him a Latin 
and Greek sentence. It so happened that I had done 
such work in my studies and teaching and was good 
at it. When I showed him the Greek that I had writ- 
ten, he was evidently pleased. I have always thought 
he was thinking of who should succeed him in his 
work at the Printing House. None of the other mis- 
sionaries, I learned later, were fresh in their Seminary 
studies or had kept up their Greek and Hebrew. Mr. 
Worcester took me into the printing office and bindery 
and showed me the publications of the Mission. They 
were nearly all—all the Bible texts were—24mo and 
in a form that could not be permanent. I asked him 
why he did not have the Testament printed by the 
[American] Bible Society, at New York. He replied, 
‘they may have no type.’ ‘They will cast a font of 
type for you if you will ask them,’ I said. He was 
incredulous, but wrote to inquire of the secretaries; 
they complied, and the New Testament was published 
in Cherokee, and in that way [the result of] forty 
years of hard, costly toil was rescued. But for the 


_ 


APPENDIX 


Bible Society the result of this labor would have been 
wholly lost. 

“In 1859, Doctor Worcester’s health began to fail 
and he sent for me to come and help him and to 
preach in his church at Park Hill. I left my family 
in the care of Mr. Chamberlain, a son of an old mis- 
sionary, living near Fairfield Station. . se Doctor 
Worcester (who had had the degree of D. D. con- 
ferred upon him a short time before this) talked 
freely with me and told me all of his plans. These 
included the revision of the whole of the New Testa- 
ment, now nearing, under his hands, a completion. I 
sent to New York the printed copy of the translation 
as it went on. It was set up and printed in our office 
for the convenience of the New York printers, who 
could not read Cherokee manuscript. I also superin- 
tended with Doctor Worcester’s help, the preparation 
of the Cherokee Almanac and a Cherokee primer. The 
calculations for the Almanac were all furnished by 
Mrs. Greenleaf, of Bradford, from year to year. This 
almanac contained, besides the usual matter, the 
names of all the principal officers of the Cherokee 
government—judges, sheriffs, members of the two 
branches of the Legislature, and was filled in as com- 
pletely as possible with original matter, relating to 
temperance and religion.” 

It was fortunate, indeed, that Mr. Torrey’s sugges- 
tion concerning the printing of the New Testament 
by the American Bible Society was adopted, for the 
death of Doctor Worcester, followed shortly after- 
ward by the outbreak of the Civil War, in which every 
vestige of the mission establishment at Park Hill was 
wiped out, would have literally destroyed the results 
and benefits of the painstaking labors of the latter 
as a translator. Mr. Torrey’s service in helping to 
complete the translation and in seeing it placed in 
type and printed was also invaluable. Although the 
period of this activity in the mission field in the 
Cherokee Nation was brief as compared with those of 
some others, his work was of an enduring character. 
Some estimate of the importance of the publishing 
house at Park Hill Mission may be formed from the 
statement that 14,084,100 printed pages were issued 
from its presses for the benefit of the Cherokees and, 
in addition to this, there was a large amount of print- 
ing and publishing done for the mission among the 
other tribes, including over 11,000,000 pages for the 
Choctaws.—Mss. of Park Hill Publishing House at 
Park Hill Mission, by Charles Cutler Torrey. 


APPENDIX XVII—7. 
STEPHEN FOREMAN’S LETTER, 


August 18, 1852. 

Dear Sir: Agreeably to your request, I hereby furn- 
ish you a short sketch of the Cherokee Bible Society. 

The present Bible Society was formed at Tahlequah 
October 23, 1841. Its object, as declared by the 2d 
article of the constitution, is ‘‘to disseminate the 
Sacred Scriptures in the English and Cherokee nation: 
and all funds collected by the Society are to be ex- 
pended for that object.’’ It is free from all sectarian- 
ism, and designed to unite Christians of all denomina- 


-tions in the good work of circulating the Bible. The 


first few years after the Society was organized, but 
little was accomplished, because but few individuals 
took an interest in promoting its object. Subsequent- 
ly, the Society gained ground, and has been attended 
with more or less success up to the present time. 

The whole amount of money collected and expended 
by the Society since its commencement to its last 
annual meeting, in October, 1851, is about thirteen 
hundred dollars. The whole number of books pur- 
chased during the same time is about three thousand. 
These have been distributed in all parts of the nation 
by persons to whom they have been assigned. It is 
the aim of the Society to make its influence felt as 
widely as possible. 

The Scriptures purchased by the Society, and put 
into circulation, are the following, viz.: The Gospels 
of Matthew, Luke, and John, the Acts of the Apostles, 
the Epistle of Timothy, the Epistle of James, the 
Epistles of Peter, the Epistles of John, and a part of 
the Revelation of John. There are portions, also, of 
the Old Testament circulated, viz.: of Genesis, Exodus, 
Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah. These are all translated 
into the Cherokee language. 

The Society have also on hand a quantity of Eng- 
lish Bibles and Testaments, furnished them by the 
American Bible Society for distribution. The Society, 


803 


not having funds to purchase English Bibles, have 
depended on the American Bible Society for supplies, 
which have been furnished gratuitously. 

The officers of the Society are a president and eight 
vice-presidents, a secretary and treasurer, and an 
executive committee. The committee is composed of 
five persons, including the secretary and treasurer. 

The Society meets annually at Tahlequah on the 
third Wednesday in October. 

STEPHEN FOREMAN, 
Secretary Cherokee Bible Society. 
GEORGE BUTLER, Esq., 
Cherokee Agent. 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

1852, pp. 405-06 


APPENDIX XVII—S. 
LETTER CONCERNING ERECTION OF CHICKASAW 
ACADEMY. 


Chickasaw Acalemy, August 23, 1848. 
Sir: The work of preparation for this school, lo- 
cated about ten miles northwest from Fort Washita, 
was commenced on the first of last January, and the 
progress made therein to this date, is in 


Buildings 


One rough log cabin with end sheds attached, af- 
fording shelter at present to fourteen persons. One 
hewed log meat house, eighteen by twenty feet, suffi- 
cient to hang twenty to twenty-five thousand pounds 
of meat, finished, except the painting. One corn house, 
ten by twenty feet, shaded all around, for stable and 
wagon purposes. One hewed log building, twenty 
by thirty feet, two stories high, covered, and doors 
and windows cut; designed according to the plan of 
the institution for mechanics’ shops, but which will 
be prepared as soon as practicable as a domicile for 
our families, workmen, and hands. The above build- 
ings are intended, both in regard to structure and 
position, to form an integral part of the general plan 
of buildings, and are, consequently, put up in a sub- 
stantial and durable manner, 

I may add that all three of our workmen here 
wrought but little for the last six weeks, in conse- 
quence of sickness. 


Farm and Farming 


In this department our work is more advanced. For 
the first month or more I could procure no laboring 
hands, but by the middle of February I had employed 
four—in March two, and in April two more, and for 
the last four weeks we have had ten. We cleared a 
lot of near four acres sufficiently early to plant with 
a variety of vegetables, which have already been of 
great service to us, and will be ‘sufficient for the 
coming fall and winter. We have enclosed over fifty 
acres of wood land, with a fence nine rails high, and 
cleared and planted about eighteen acres with corn, 
the appearance of which is good. The balance of 
this enclosure is now chopped off and ready for roll- 
ing and burning; and a small part broken and sowed 
with turnip seed. We have over 14,000 rails made, and 
perhaps 11,000 or more of them put up. 

The work has at all times appeared to progress 
slowly, and yet when it is remembered that we began 
not quite seven months ago, in a dense unbroken 
forest, in which was growing the wood of most of 
the implements with which the work has been per- 
formed, we look around us with feelings of gratitude 
and pleasure. 

There are indications that the interest of the In- 
dians in the enterprise is increasing, but when we 
shall have the pleasure of inviting them to send in 
their children to the school is uncertain. I conceive 
it quite impolitic to begin the school until we shall 
have erected our large boarding house, and shall have 
raised a good supply of provisions towards its support. 
When this shall have been accomplished, we shall 
have sufficient room to appropriate to just such a 
school as we would wish to begin with. One thing 
only we promise: that if means are not lacking, at- 
tention and effort shall not be wanting to as early a 
commencement as reason can require. 

I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

WESLEY BROWNING. 
COL. A. M. M. UPSHAW, 


U. S. Agent for Chickasaws. 
—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
1848, pp. 532-33. 


804 


APPENDIX XVII—9. 
LETTERS OF PRESIDING ELDER T. B. RUBLE 
MUSKOGEE DISTRICT. 


Asbury M. L. School, September 8, 1848. 

Sir: I hasten to inform you of the condition and ex- 
tent of the operations of the missionary society of the 
Methodist Episcopal church south, connected with the 
Creek nation. Our work here for several years past, 
has been carried on almost entirely on the circuit plan, 
white and native men both being employed in the 
work. These, for the most part, had to be unmarried 
men, owing principally to the great difficulty in any 
thing like a permanent family missionary residence, 
the leading policy of the nation being opposed to any 
and all very extended and active missionary operations 
among them. But whatever now may be the feelings 
and views of a few of the leading men of the nation, 
with reference to the present and future good of the 
people, one thing is certain, they are behind the times. 
The common people, with many prominent leaders, are 
very far in advance of them. Customs and usages, 
however ancient, 2re fast passing away; those of a 
higher and superior order are now obtaining, to the 
great satisfaction of a large portion of the Creek peo- 
ple. Many of them are quitting the ball play and the 
dance, which is sometimes made a ground of complaint 
against the missionary. 

The majority of the Creek people are now in favor 
of educating their children, and adopting the habits of 
civilized life. During the past two years the demand 
has been repeatedly made, and with increased interest, 
for books, schools, missionaries, and teachers. 

Could whiskey be kept out of the Creek nation, I see 
no earthly reason why they might not soon rank with 
the foremost of the tribes in point of general improve- 
ment. The Creek has a pliable, expansive mind. He is 
teachable; his habits, though of long standing, give 
way before the light of truth. Let but once the same 
amount of means and instrumentalities be brought to 
bear upon the Creek people that some of the other 
tribes have already been favored with, and the good 
accomplished will be more than double that in any 
other instance. We are ied to this conclusion from 
facts as they present themselves in the history of 
benevolent enterprise, connected with other portions 
of the great mission field. But to the matter before us. 
Until the last session of the Indian mission conference, 
the Creek nation remained an integral part of the 
Cherokee district, when it was made a separate charge, 
and divided into three mission stations, in view of its 
becoming a full district. T. B. Ruble was appointed 
to it, and also the superintendent of the Asbury M. L. 
school. He received his appointment in November, but 
did not succeed in getting the site for the requisite 
buildings, and a farm located, until late in the month 
of January. In this he had the efficient aid of Colonel 
Logan, Creek agent, and the hearty concurrence of 
Colonel Rutherford, superintendent western territory. 
The site is within less than a mile of the north fork, 
and five miies of its junction with the Canadian, south 
of the former and northwest of the latter. The river 
is sufficiently commanding, with good land for farm- 
ing; good timber on the north and west, and quite a 
sufficient supply of water for all necessary purposes. 
The location is generally thought to be a good one, and 
as healthy as any to be found in the country. 

Soon after the site was determined on, a purchase of 
some improvements on, and necessary to, the location, 
was made from the widow owning them, for three 
hundred dollars. These consist of about thirty acres 
cultivated land under good fence, a comfortable hewed 
log house, about twenty feet square, with a porch in 
front, smoke house, kitchen, stables, with a tolerable 
supply of fruit trees, &c. In February a contract was 
agreed on for the stone and brick work, with Webster 
& Reed, of Fort Smith, Arkansas; and, in the month of 
April a contract was entered into with J. J. Denny, 
esq., of Louisville, Kentucky, to furnish material and 
do the carpenter work. But notwithstanding the con- 
tractors commenced preparations immediately, little 
was done towards the building before the first of May. 
Since then the work has been progressing slowly. The 
foundation was completed and the corner stone laid 
on the 19th day of July. The occasion was one of much 
interest to the Indians, many of whom attended, with 


APPENDIX 


. 


several of the principal chiefs. Notwithstanding the 
day was very hot, the addresses and all elicited the 
closest attention from them. When they were told 
by a native speaker that this was what they had been 
trying to get for several years past, they responded 
most heartily. All expressed themselves as much 
pleased with what they heard and saw. The building 
will be 110 feet long by 34 wide, with porch ten feet 
wide in front, three stories high, including the base- 
ment. Leaving out the halls, there will be twenty-one 
rooms, including those in the attic. The basement 
will be of stone, the balance brick. It is believed now 
that the building cannot be completed before next fall. 
We hope, however, that we may get into it before that 
time. But there are many hindrances in putting so 
large a building here; suitable hands hard to obtain; 
transportation difficult. 

On the farm we have raised about fifteen acres of 
corn—six of oats—some potatoes, &c. Two wagons, 
two yoke of oxen, two ccws and calves, with some 
harness, hces, spades, axes, &c., have been purchased 
for the use of the farm. 

A Sunday school has been taught at the place part 
of the time since last spring. A regular day school was 
commenced the 8th of August, taught by Rev. W. A. 
Cobb, but is now suspended, until after the approach- 
ing session of the Indian mission conference. The 
school was necessarily small, as we were only able to 
take in a few boys, the balance having to come some 
distance. Our schoolhouse is only a temporary affair, 
and not well adapted to the fall and winter season. 
The children in attendance were nearly aJl in the 
spellers, but made very respectable improvement for 
the time. The school will be commenced again as soon 
as practicable. 

We have regular preaching at this place, and a soci- 
ety of 50 members, mostly on trial. One-half of the 
above number, or more, have placed themselves under 
the watch care of the church during the past few 
weeks, and nearly the whole number since last spring. 
The spirit of improvement is very plainly at work 
among the people all around us. 

North Fork and Little River Mission.—To this, Rev. 
W. D. Collins, with Rev. Daniel Asbury, a native 
preacher, were sent at the last session of the confer- 
ence. There were in the society and under religious 
instruction, as last returned, 257 members, and 19 
preaching places. This mission includes a large por- 
tion of the nation. But very little opposition exists 
any more among them to the gospel. 

Creek agency mission.—Rev. W. A. Cobb was ap- 
pointed to this work, and has labored there a good 
part of the past year. A native acted as his inter- 
preter. The last returns show 315 under the watch 
care of the church, and 20 preaching places. 

Mrs. Collins, who has had charge of the Muskogee 
mission school, near the Creek agency, reports as 
follows: ‘This school was established in February 
last. At its first organization, the number of children 
in attendance was small, and mostly very irregular in 
their attendance. The school, however, soon increasea@ 
in numbers, the children became more punctual in their 
attendance. 
of them have entered school during the last few 
weeks, and many others have been absent from school 
from various causes, so much so that I think the 
average number in attendance during the term will 
not exceed 25. The scholars generally have made good 
proficiency, and some have advanced rapidly. Two little 
girls, in particular, whose English names are Martha 
Marshall and Elizabeth Brodnax, the former daughter 
of the second chief of the nation, the latter the daugh- 
ter of Doctor Brodnax, have made unusually rapid 
improvement for the time they have been in school. I 
have been engaged in teaching among the whites for 
the last twelve years, and have never seen children 
among them make better proficiency than have these 
Indian youths who have attended school regularly. 
The girls have been instructed in plain sewing and 
embroidery, in which they manifest much skill. Thir- 
teen of the students have been learning to write, nine 
have been studying geography, seven arithmetic and 
two English grammar. All in attendance have received 
oral instruction in arithmetic and geography. There 
has been a manifest improvement in the general de- 
portment of the children, and I trust religious im- 
pressions made which will be lasting. At the com- 


Sixty names are now on the list, but many * 


SS ee ee ee ae ee 


aa 


Ss 


a a F) 


a ee ee ee 


i tN te Bi 


APPENDIX 


mencement of the school, many of the boys were often 
kept away by attending ball plays, night dances, &c., 
but most of them have been induced to refrain from 
attending such places, especially ball plays on the 
Sabbath. 

“A Sabbath school of considerable interest has been 
sustained; many of the children are able to recite les- 
sons from the Scriptures, while others recite from 
Caper’s Catechism. The beneficial effects of the Sab- 
bath school are very apparent. Twenty-one of the 
children, who are able to understand it, have signed 
the temperance pledge, and, so far as we have ascer- 
tained, all have kept it, with one exception.” 

The missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal 
church south, have had four missionaries employed in 
this work the past year, three white and one native, 
besides others who act as interpreters. Some 622 are 
connected with the church and receive religious in- 
structions. One thousand copies of a hymn book, of 
about 100 pages, in the Creek language, and also 1,000 
copies of a small spelling book have been published by 
the board for gratuitous distribution among them. 
These they soon use to great advantage, as they learn 
to read their own language in a very short time. The 
instruction of the children and the cause of temperance 
each receive due attention. 

Most respectfully yours, 
COLONEL JAMES LOGAN, AROa sy SHOPS IEP D Rea TDA 

Creek agent. Muskogee district. 
—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1848, 
pp. 524-27. 

CHEROKEE DISTRICT. 


Park Hill, Oct. 6, 1847. 

Dear Sir’ Your communication of September 6th, 
came to hand not Jong since. In this you ask for in- 
formation respecting the “condition and progress of 
the Methodist church in the Cherokee nation.” The 
Methodist missionary board have had twelve mission- 
aries employed in this work the past year. At the last 
session of the Indian conference, Rev. T. B. Ruble was 
appointed to the charge of the Cherokee district. This 
district embraces five circuits in the Cherokee nation. 

1. Upper Cherokee. To this charge Rev. D. B. Cum- 
ming and Rev. John F. Boot were sent at the last ses- 
sion of the conference, and J. R. Bird employed as 
interpreter. There are 538 church members, 7 local 
preachers, 6 sabbath schools, 181 scholars, 161 volumes 
in libraries, and 6 meeting houses, which have been 
built by the members. 

2. Tah-le-quah circuit. This work has been served 
the past year by Rev. John T. Peery and Rev. Wm. 
McIntosh. There are 12 preaching places, 249 in soci- 
ety, 4 local preachers, 2 meeting houses, 1 Sabbath 
school, 35 scholars, and 100 yolumes in library. Thirty- 
five children and 18 adults have been baptized, and 
more than 60 have been admitted to the church on trial 
during the past year. 

3. Lower Cherckee. Rev. John Boston and Rev. Wm. 
Proctor have been laboring on this circuit the past 
year. There are 3 meeting houses, 18 preaching 
places, 337 church members, and 1 local preacher. 

4. Barren Fork. Rev. Thomas Bertholf and Rev. 
Walker Cary have served here. There are, in this 
division of the work, 241 in society, 130 of whom have 
been received during the past year, 10 have died, and 
10 removed; there is, also, one Sabbath school. This 
work is in a prosperous condition. 

5. Webbers Falls. This field of labor was laid off at 
the last session of the conference, and is almost en- 
tirely new work, embracing the settlements on the 
Arkansas and Canadian rivers, among the most wild 
and unsettled part of the Cherokee nation—many of 
whom had not, in all probability, ever heard the gospel 
before. To this circuit, Rev. W. A. Duncan, with Isaac 
Sanders as interpreter, was sent to labor. But little 
fruit has yet appeared; there are 17 in society, 1 Sab- 
bath school, and 15 scholars. 

Of the above-named missionaries 4 are white and 8 
Native men. The annual cost to the board has been 
about $2,070. We have no schools under our direction, 
yet the subjects of education and temperance are en- 
couraged, so far as practicable, by all our missionaries. 

Your most obedient servant, 
COL. JAMES McKISICK, Ts. RUBLE, Pee. 

Cherokee Agent. Cherokee District. 
—Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1848, 
PP. 517-18. 


805 


APPENDIX XVII—10. 
REPORT OF CRAWFORD SEMINARY BY SAMUEL 
G. PATTERSON. 


Crawford Seminary, 
Quapaw Nation, September 8, 1848. 

Sir: At the termination of another year, it becomes 
my duty, as superintendent of the Crawford Seminary, 
to present to the War Department a brief report of 
this institution. 

In doing this, it may be proper to state that this 
school was opened in the spring of 1842, under very 
unfavorable circumstances. Difficulties, growing out 
of our limited means of support during the first four 
years, brought about such a crisis in the affairs of the 
institution as, unless a new and more powerful impulse 
had been given to its movements, must have compelled 
us to abandon the enterprise entirely. Since May, 1847, 
we have been greatly encouraged to prosecute our 
labors with untiring energy, and the strong hold which 
the cause of education seems to have taken upon the 
minds of this people induces us to hope that the day 
is not far distant when this institution will compare 
favorably with the most flourishing in the Indian 
country. 

Circumstances, which it was not in my power to 
control, prevented the erection of our new buildings 
at as early a period as was desirable. 

- It was deemed expedient to change the location to a 
more central point, about five miles distant. 

The new establishment is beautifully situated near 
the east bank of the Pomme de Terre, or Spring river, 
immediately on the military road from Fort Leaven- 
worth to Fort Smith, five miles west of Newton County, 
Missouri. The location is easy of access, pleasant, 
healthy, and fertile, and abounds with good timbers, 
rock, water, and other conveniences. 

The buildings are constructed on a convenient and 
economical plan, plain and susbtantial, and calculated 
to accommodate comfortably two families, several 
work hands, and forty Indian children. The farm is 
at a convenient distance from the house, and is well 
ae ae and planted in corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, 

Cc. 

I have applied to the missionary board for funds to 
complete the workshops and furnish them with tools. 

The school has been in successful operation at the 
new location sinc? the first of April last. 

The average number of pupils in attendance during 
the year has been twenty-four, only six of whom are 
girls. Our present number is twenty-eight. 

About one-half of the children now at school have 
attended twelve or eighteen months, and are now 
spelling, reading and writing well. The remainder 
have entered the school since we opened at the new 
location, and have made as much proficiency in learn- 
ing as could have been expected. 

The plan of instruction is based upon the principle 
that a little well learned is better than much half 
learned. Particular care is taken to teach and explain 
the leading principles of science, and to impart a thor- 
ough knowledge of the English language. 

Six hours of each day are devoted to mental and 
moral instruction, and the remainder of the time to 
manual labor and suitable recreation. 

The children are permitted to visit their homes on 
Saturdays, and required to attend Sabbath school and 
public worship every Sabbath. The government of the 
school is kind and parental, depending more upon the 
mutual confidence existing between teacher and schol- 
ars than in penalties and punishment for the violation 
of the rules of the school, but it is uniform and decided. 

The year is divided into four terms of eleven weeks 
each, which is closed by a public examination of all 
the students. 

The present condition and prospects of the seminary 
warrant, ard will call forth, every exertion to extend 
and increase its advantages. 

I am, dear sir, very respectfully, 

servant, 


your obedient 


SAMUEL G. PATTERSON, 
Superintendent, Crawford Seminary. 
B. A. JAMES, ESQ., 
Neosho Sub-agent. 
—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1848, 
pp. 536-37. 


806 


APPENDIX XVIT—11. 
REPORT OF BAPTIST MISSION FOR 1848. 


North Fork, Creek Nation, 
July 26, 1848. 
Report of the Baptist mission, under patronage of the 
American Indian mission, located at Louisville, 
Kentucky. 

The society have been aiding a few men, mostly na- 
tives, for the last few years. Until December, they did 
not have a white man in the Creek nation. Great pros- 
perity has attended the churches. The preaching of 
the natives has interested the tribe, and the different 
churches have always had large congregations, and at 
most of the monthly meetings have received members. 
Six years since the number of members in the nation 
did not exceed 150, with two churches and two or three 
preaching places. 

At present there are seven Baptist churches and 
about ten preaching places, with 550 communicants. 
The denomination have had superior native assistants. 
Rev. Joseph Island, whom every person loves to speak 
highly of, died last March. He was the first minister 
of the North Fork church, and continued their beloved 
pastor, in labors abundant, until death. At the time of 
his death the church numbered 175; now it numbers 
210. Those added since have been deeply affected by 
his loss, and, no doubt his death had been the means 
of their conversion. The society now have— 

Rev. Americus L. Hay, at North Fork town. 

Rev. James Perryman, native, at Big Spring. 

Rev. Andrew Frazier, native, at Elk creek. 

Brother Sti-sock-kee, a native, at Elk Creek. 

Brother Yan-too-chee, native, at Creek agency. 

Brethren Jacob, Jesse, and Harry, Black-men. 

A school was commenced last January—now has 30 
scholars. For a day school the attendance is excel- 
lent. Five could read in easy lessons, and three spell 
words of one syllable. At the close of the first session, 
of 22 weeks, 21 were reading. Hight learned their let- 
ters first day by using the musical alphabet. The 
school could now have 100 pupils if the society could 
board them, but they have not the means, and would 
ask government aid. This they have done, and hope 
to succeed. The people ask for schools. They see how 
much benefit the Choctaws have received from their 
excellent boarding schools. They are much pleased 
that they are to have two in successful operation soon, 
and wish for another, conducted by the American 
Indian mission. 

The classes of the Baptist school at North Fork are 
as follows: Six in third Eclectic Reader, Ray’s Arith- 
metic, second part, Olney’s Geography, and writing; 
eight in Eclectic Reader, second part Ray’s Arithmetic, 
first part, six in First Reader, eight spelling, two in 
alphabet. The school has been taught one session of 
twenty-two weeks, and two weeks of the second ses- 
sion. Twenty-two of the scholars began in their let- 
ters. All are intent to learn, with the happiest feeling 
for each other, and dearly loving their school. 

But a day school will not answer the purpose of 
education tor the tribes. The Indian youth should be 
taught farming, and some of the simple trades, and the 
girls house-keeping. This is net likely to be done, 
only in the manual laboring schools. The government 
can, to the greatest extent, advance the true interest 
of ihe tribes, by establishing boarding schools. If the 
Indians should not reccemmend this course at the time, 
a good school will recommend itself to any tribe in a 
very short time. 

At no time in the history of the Creeks has such 
great prosperity attended them as now. Several of the 
principal chiefs have united with the different 
churches, and are sending their children to school. 
Within the last six months seventy-five have united 
with the different Baptist churches in the nation. Con- 
gregations are becoming larger at each meeting. Our 
agent, no doubt, will speak of the secular conditions 
of the Creeks. A bright day is dawning on the Creeks. 
Already the bright light is seen in every direction. 

Will Colonel Logan, agent of the Creeks, accept of 
this report, and forward it to the Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs Yours respectfully, 

AMERICUS L. HAY, 
Missionary of the A. I. M. 
COLONEL JAMES LOGAN. 
—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1848. 
pp. 527-28. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XVIII—1. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHOCTAW NATION IN 1838, 
“Choctaws.” 


The Southern boundary of the Choctaw country is 
Red River, South of which is Texas. They adjoin the 
State of Arkansas on the East; are bounded North 
by Arkansas and Canadian Rivers, and on the West by 
a line dividing the Territory of the United States from 
that of Mexico. The extent of their country is about 
150 miles, from North to South, and, from East to 
West, the habitable portion is about 200 miles. Want 
of wood renders the western part uninhabitable at 
present. 

The southern boundary of the Choctaw country is 
Red River, south of which is Texas. They adjoin the 
State of Arkansas and Canadian Rivers, and on the 
west by a line dividing the Territory of the United 
States from that of Mexico. The extent of their coun- 
try is about one hundred and fifty miles, from north 
to south, and, from east to west, the habitable portion 
is about two hundred miles. Want of wood renders 
the western part uninhabitable at present. 

Their country is supplied with numerous springs of 
salt water, at two of which the Choctaws are manu- 
facturing salt. 

No villages have yet been properly formed in their 
country, though the settlements of Eagletown, Doaks- 
ville, and Pheasant Bluff, are places which begin to 
assume a village appearance. They have suffered 
much by sickness, the causes of which are probably 
such as usually occasion sickness to settlers in new 
countries. The appearance of the country is very 
favorable to health. They are improving in civiliza- 
tion and comfort. Their houses and fields indicate a 
good degree of industry. Many have large farms. 
They own much live stock, such as horses, cattle, 
sheep, and swine; are pretty well supplied with farm- 
ing utensils. They own about 600 negro slaves. 

They own three flouring mills, two cotton gins, 
eighty-eight looms, and two hundred and twenty spin- 
ning-wheels. They have thirteen native merchants, 
besides white men engaged in the same business. 
Their naticnal council house [Nanih Waya] is nearly 
equidistant between the northern and southern bound- 
aries of their country, and about forty miles west of 
the State of Arkansas. It is an excellent log build- 
ing, with a council hall and two committee rooms. 

About three or four thousand Choctaws have not 
yet settled in their country, some of whom are in the 
country they formerly inhabited, east of the Missis- 
sippi. A small band live in Texas, about eighty miles 
south of Red River, opposite Fort Towson. At the 
time of the general emigration of the tribe, a band 
of about three hundred and fifty settled still farther 
south in Texas, between the rivers Brazos and Trinity. 
Besides these, there are others in divers places in 
Texas, who emigrated thither at various times, twen- 
ty, thirty, or forty years ago. 

In respect to civilization, there is great difference 
among them. Some have fully adopted the habits of 
civilized man, many are in comfortable circumstances 
in life, and some may be said to be wealthy, From 
these more favorable circumstances all grades of con- 
ditions exist, down to the Indian who has advanced 
but little in civilization. 

The best evidence of the improving condition of the 
Choctaws, is seen in an entire change in their govern- 
ment, which they have effected, from the barbarous 
to the civilized. We cannot now assemble chiefs and 
head-men among them, and transact business with 
them relating to their people, as is the custom among 
uncivilized tribes. The system of chieftaincies has been 
abolished. 

The tribe denominates itself “The Choctaw Nation.” 
It has adopted a written Constitution of Government, 
similar to the Constitution of the United States. Their 
Declaration of Rights secures to all equal privileges, 
liberty of conscience, excluding all religious tests; it 


secures trial by jury, and, in a word, it provides for © 


all that is felt to be necessary in the incipient stages 
of political existence. The constitution may be 
amended by the National Council. Their country is 
divided into four judicial districts. Three of these 
districts annually elect, by popular vote, each nine 
members of the National Council, and the fourth 
elects, by the same mode, thirteen members, in all 
forty. These are allowed three dollars a day, while 


=~ 


APPENDIX 


engaged in legislating. Within each district an officer, 
denominated a Chief, is elected for the term of four 
years. The National Council meets, annually, on the 
first Monday in October. It consists of forty mem- 
bers, the necessary clerks, a light-horseman, [Ser- 
geant-at-arms,] and door-keeper. It is also attended 
by the chiefs, who have an honorary seat provided 
for them by the side of the Speaker, but they have 
no voice in debate in Council. Their signatures are 
necessary to the passage of a law. They may veto 
an act, but it may become a law, by the concurrence 
of two-thirds of the Council nothwithstanding. The 
Council is styled ‘‘The General Council of the Choc- 
taw Nation.” It adopts by-laws for its government 
while in session. It elects a Speaker and other re- 
quisite officers, appoints appropriate committees to 
adjust matters for legislation. All writings are in 
English, but are read off in the Choctaw language. 
All discussions are carried on in the Choctaw lan- 
guage. Each member, when about to speak, rises, 
and respectfully addresses the Speaker, using the 
Choctaw word for Speaker, adding the syllable ma, 
which nearly corresponds with the English Mr., or 
Sir. The question is put in the form customary in 
the legislative bodies, and the vote is given by rising. 
—The preliminary of a law is, “Be it enacted by the 
General Council of the Choctaw Nation.” In future 
the Constitution and laws will be printed in both 
Choctaw and English language. By the Constitution, 
the government is composed of four departments, viz: 
Legislative, Executive, Judicial, and Military. Three 
judges are elected by the people in each district, who 
hold inferior and superior courts within their respec- 
tive districts. Ten light-horsemen in each district 
perform the duties of sheriffs, and the sum of $200 
per annum is allowed to each district for their com- 
pensation. An act has recently been passed for the 
organization of the militia. 

Individual Indians have frequently become civilized, 
and subject to the laws of white men, but the Choc- 
taws furnish instance among the aboriginal tribes 
of America, of self-government, divested of the bar- 
barous customs which belong to the savage state. It 
is truly gratifying that the laws of a commonwealth 
have been established within the Indian Territory, so 
soon after the plan of organizing an Indian govern- 
ment had been undertaken by the Government of the 
United States. It evinces the capacity of the natives 
to think and act for themselves, and it may be looked 
upon as a sure presage of the success ultimately of 
the design of the government to place all the tribes 
in the enjoyment of such blessings. 

The following brief narrative of the manner in 
which our business was attended to by the last Gen- 
eral Council, to which we presented for consideration 
the bill for the organization of the Indian Territory, 
does not fully comport with the design of the Reg- 
ister, nevertheless, as it relates to a period which 
will be marked as a new era in the history of the 
Indians, and as the ‘reader cannot feel perfectly satis- 
fied with general remarks, because, if we would under- 
stand the true condition of a people we must have 
before us an unvarnished story of their affairs, in 
common life, we will insert it. 

On our arrival we informed a member of the Coun- 
cil that we had been commissioned to transact busi- 
ness with the Choctaws, and inquired in what man- 
ner it could be brought before them. He said a writ- 
ten notice must be sent to the Speaker; and politely 
offered to serve us in presenting any papers that we 
desired. A communication was accordingly conveyed 
to the Speaker, who, in due form, submitted it to the 
consideration of the Council. It was decided by vote 
that we should, at a given time, be introduced into 
the Council. A seat was prepared, an interpreter ap- 
pointed and a committee of two sent to inform us, 
and to conduct us to our seat. Having received our 
communication, the subject was for the present dis- 
missed by the Council, to be considered in its proper 
place in the order of business. 

There was in the vicinity only one house of public 
entertainment. For want of room in the tavern, and 
for the sake of economy, a majority of the members, 
and of others in attendance, boarded themselves in 
camp. This session lasted much longer than had been 
anticipated. The consequence was some inconvenience 
for want of supplies, and great anxiety to adjourn, 
which, with many, was increased on account of their 
business requiring their presence at their homes. Not- 


807 


withstanding this state of anxiety, on a Saturday 
night they unanimously voted not to sit on the Sab- 
bath, and by a unanimous vote, invited a Minister of 
the Gospel to preach in the Hall, and appointed an 
interpreter, and a committee to notify him. All this 
was done without a hint from a white man to prompt 
it. A congregation never behaved with more pro- 
priety under the preaching of a chaplain in Congress- 
ey than did this in the National Hall of the Choc- 
aws. 

Our business was referred to a committee, which 
reported. The Council, in the discussion of the sub- 
ject, and in making out its response, sat with closed 


doors. Their communication was sent to uS by a 
messenger. 
We then informed one of the members that we 


should be happy to take leave of the Council in a 
formal and friendly manner. They passed a resolu- 
tion, by which they sent a member and invited us 
within the bar, and heard from us a brief farewell 
address, at the conclusion of which the Speaker and 
all the members rose from their seats, and remained 
standing until we had retired. 

They sit in council with heads uncovered, except- 
ing in Indian costume, who wear turbans. There were 
many animated speeches. We could not understand 
a single sentence, but were charmed with the grace- 
fulness with which the speakers disengaged them- 
selves from their seats, and delivered their speeches. 
Intonation of voices was sweet, and gesticulation ap- 


- propriate; both of them free from those extremes of 


high and low, of storm and calm, which too often 
injure speeches in legislative bodies. Some of those 
who were prominent in debate were full-blooded In- 
dians, in the Indian costume. 

Many of the counsellors, no doubt, will soon figure 
as statesmen. We forbear in this place to mention 
names, because we should be compelled either to do 
injustice to some, or to fill up too much space. On 
one occasion a very animated debate arose, in which 
two ardent young men responded to each other, in 
two or three pretty long speeches, in which they used 
written notes.—Isaac McCoy in Annual Register for 
Indian Affairs, 1838, pp. 36-40. 


APPENDIX XVIII—2. 
REPORT OF AGENT UPSHAW, 


Chickasaw Agency. 
August 22, 1848. 

Sir: Having made a report in March last, I shall 
have but little to say in this. Since my last annual 
report, fifty-two Chickasaws have emigrated, but a 
large majority of them have located in the Choctaw 
district; they were persuaded to do so by interested 
persons, and also by some of the Chickasaws who are 
opposed to their people coming into the district, but 
some of the heads of those families have visited the 
district, and are very much pleased with it; some 
observed that they would not go a half mile to see 
a better country and are determined to move in early 
this fall. 

The last of February I sent to Colonel Richard M. 
Johnson’s school, in Kentucky, thirteen boys, and 
brought back thirteen to the nation; there were four- 
teen at the school, but one, a half-breed, by the name 
of Thomas, refused to return. After arriving at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, he obtained employment on a steam- 
boat and preferred to remain. I am happy to say 
that those that did come home, looked well, were 
well clad, and are very steady; all of whom can read 
and write. In our war with Mexico, there were three 
Chickasaws engaged. Mr. George Thomas, who was 
at New Orleans at the time they were raising volun- 
teers, joined one of the companies, which was dis- 
banded when the twelve months volunteers arrived 
at Camargo. Amos Colbert, a boy of eighteen years 
of age, and Ti Chuck, a full-blood Chickasaw, made 
their way to San Antonio, and there volunteered for 
the war; and from what I can learn, they done good 
service; they have just arrived at home. 

In May last, a delegation of eight Chickasaws vis- 
ited Washington city on business of their nation. Co- 
lonel James McLaughlin, chief of the Chickasaws, was 
one of the delegation; they have all arrived at home 
in good health, and appear very much pleased with 
their visit; that is, those that I have seen. They have 
not yet informed the Chickasaws what they have done, 


808 


but the chief has called a council of all the tribe, to 
collect on the 15th day of September next, at which 
time all things done will be explained to them. k 

The health of the Chickasaws (those who live in 
the district) has been unusually good this year; there 
are those who live at so great a distance from the 
agency that it is impossible to know their condition. 
Their crops this season are very fine, better than I 
have ever known them; abundance of corn has been 
raised, and thousands of bushels to spare: large crops 
of wheat have been raised in the district; it will 
average from 25 to 30 bushels per acre, and weight, 
67 pounds to the bushel; in a year or two no flour 
will be brought into the country from Arkansas or 
Missouri for sale; the Indians will make their own. 

Their stock of horses, cattle, and hogs, are increas- 
ing very fast; in this country heifers generally have 
calves at two years old; the Chickasaws are paying 
more attention to raising hogs than formerly. 

Mr. G. S. Love has a fine gristmill, and also a thresh- 
ing machine to clean wheat, moved by horse-power. 
Colonel Benjamin Love has a horse mill, and a thresh- 
ing machine is to be attached to it; Mr. Thomas 
Mitchell a horse mill and cotton gin; Mr. James Col- 
bert, Jackson Kemp, Pitman Colbert, and Mrs. Susan 
Jones, all have cotton gins, and all raise fine crops 
of cotton. Mr. Harvey Bacon has a mill with water 
power; Colonel W. R. Guy, a saw and also gristmill, 
to grind corn and wheat; Isaac Love has a mill with 
water power, and in the course of one or two years, 
several others will be erected. 

The Chickasaw district is a beautiful country; it 
is beautiful to the eye, and there is a large quantity 
of first quality land, equal to any I ever have seen— 
I never saw any that would produce better, and it 
is large enough for two such tribes, and it is a 
healthy country. In fact there are but few of the 
Chickasaws that know anything about what kind of 
a country they have. This spring I took a short trip 
west, and was perfectly astonished to see so fine a 
country unoccupied. Not long since I was conversing 
with Mr.‘ Jesse Chisholm, a half-breed Cherokee, who 
is a man of good observation, and has traveled all 
over the south and west (west of the States) and all 
through New Mexico, and he says this is by far 
superior to any country he had ever seen. 

Several of the streams in the district afford ample 
water power for mills and machinery of any kind. I 
visited this spring a creek that had a fall of 99% feet, 
with water sufficient to run twenty thousand spindles. 
This creek is not more than 25 miles west of my 
agency. I am in hopes I shall be able to persuade 
some of the wealthy Chickasaws to erect a cotton 
factory at the place. I have in a former report men- 
tioned that there were several valuable mineral 
springs in the district,, among which may be found 
the ‘oil spring.” A number of persons from Texas, 
besides Indians of various tribes, have visited this 
spring this summer and find it very beneficial. Some, 
who were very much afflicted with the rheumatism, 
were cured almost immediately. 

I have heard of no complaints for the last few 
months of any of the several tribes of Indians that 
pass through this country, except the Cherokees. 
There is a party of them that continue to steal where- 
ever they go. A few days since I was called on by 
a gentleman from Missouri, for assistance to follow 
some Cherokees that had stolen ten head of horses 
and mules from him as he was passing through the 
nation to Texas. He had two wagons, and they stole 
all his horses except two. The notorious “Tom Starr” 
was one of the party, so the gentleman informed me; 
(he had seen Starr once before.) I regretted that it 
was out of my power to render him assistance, as 
we have only a few infantry at Fort Washita—a 
part of a company—and only one officer; and yester- 
day I was called on by some Indians to know if I 
could aid them in recovering some horses that were 
stolen from them by the Cherokees, but I could do 
nothing for them, only advise them to go in pursuit 
themselves. 

Without we have at least one company of dragoons 
at Fort Washita, we can never put a stop to those 
both white and red, that commit depredations 
upon the good and peaceable citizens of this district. 

There are two difficulties in the way that prevents 
the Chickasaws from being as harmonious as they 
would and ought to be. ist, the Choctaw laws which 
extend over them; and 2d, that a large portion of 


APPENDIX 


the Chickasaws are living out of their district, and 
those who live out of the district, away from their 
own people, complain most of the oppression of the 
laws, and are the most dissatisfied portion of the tribe, 
and throw more obstacles in the way in carrying out 
the wishes of the government than all the balance 
of the tribe; and I would most earnestly suggest that 
all the public blacksmith shops be ordered by the 
honorable Commissioner of Indian Affairs to be lo- 
cated in the Chickasaw district. It would in a very 
few years prove a great advantage to the whole tribe, 
They would become more contented and friendly; but, 
as they now are situated, they never will be. I am 
in hopes the honorable Commissioner will carry out 
my suggestions, as I do know it will prove a blessing 
to the Chickasaws. 

Were all the Chickasaws in their own district, you 
would hear no talk of wanting a new country; and 
I can see no reason why the Choctaws would not be 
willing to withdraw their laws from over the Chicka- 
saw district, if the Chickasaws were all in it. The 
country would stand as it now does; and what benefit 
can it be to the Choctaws to hold their laws over the 
Chickasaws? Were the Choctaws to withdraw their 
laws from over the Chickasaw district, I have no 
doubt in my mind that the two nations would be much 
more friendly than they now are, or ever will be, so 
long as the laws of the Choctaws are over the Chicka- 
saws, and I would earnestly recommend to the govern- 
Rachid to use its influence to make the above arrange- 
ment. 

I have thought it best to send the report to Rey. 
Westly Browning, respecting the progress and condi- 
tion of the Chickasaw academy, as made out by him- 
self, that you and the honorable Commissioner may 
know exactly what has been done. 

The Rev. Mr. Couch has been preaching among the 
Chickasaws for the last eight or nine months, and as 
far as I can learn, he is well received and is doing 
much good for the people. 

The blacksmiths have all discharged their duty well 
this year; I have not heard a single word of com- 
plaint made this season. 

I regret to say that there is more whiskey brought 
into the nation this year than has been brought in 
for several years past. The most is obtained at Fort 
Smith, Arkansas, The Indians go there and purchase 
large quantities and bring into the nation. 

All up and down Red River, on the Texas side, you 
will find whiskey shops. The Indians sometimes will 
give their horses, ploughs, and in fact, any thing 
they have for whiskey. One of those whiskey dealers 
will take an Indian’s new plough for a gallon of 
whiskey, without the least ruffle of conscience. 

I am happy to say that the Chickasaws are becom- 
ing more and more industrious every year; none of 
them are hunters, only occasionally for amusement. 

Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
A. M. M. UPSHAW. 
U. S. Indian Agent for the Chickasaws. 
COLONEL S. M. RUTHERFORD, 
Acting Superintendent, W. Territory. 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

1848, pp. 529-30-31-32. 


APPENDIX XVIII—3. 


BASIS OF ARGUMENT FOR THE NET PROCEEDS 
CLAIM OF THE CHOCTAWS. 


“Tt may be asked why, if it was the understanding 
and intention that we were to have the actual pro- 
ceeds of our lands, this was not clearly and speci- 
fically expressed in the treaty? To this we can only 
answer, that such was our understanding, and such 
the intention of the commissioners, as their talks to 
us show, though, as written out and printed, they fall 
short of what was said and promised to us. It is 
clear therefrom, that the United States did not seek 
or desire any portion of the benefit of the ‘value of 
profit’ that might be derived from the sale of the 
lands; and that it was, consequently, to inure to the 
Choctaws. The commissioners were gentlemen of high 
standing and character. We had confidence in them, 
and that they would so fix the treaty as to perfect 
and carry out what they had clearly given us to 
understand, and they had promised. We suppose this 
was done, and have never entertained a doubt on the 
subject. The treaty, it is true, might have been more 


-_as the mere 


APPENDIX 


explicit; and, but for our reliance upon the commis- 
sioners, we might have looked more closely to its 
exact wording. But Indians never confide partially; 
and we had full confidence in the commissioners, and 
supposed the treaty was all right. And we were com- 
pelled to rely upon them the more, because, as we 
have stated, the treaty was made and signed under 
circumstances that prevented our people from having 
the opportunity to examine and reflect upon its 
phraseology, and their limited intelligence and want 
of education required, to enable them to comprehend 
whether their understanding of it, on all points, was 
fully and clearly expressed. 

“We have said that our view of our pecuniary rights, 
under the treaty of 1830, is in accordance with justice. 
We already owned the lands west. They are not, in 
any respect, to be considered as constituting any part 
of the compensation to be made us for those east. 
The latter we owned and held under assurances and 
pledges, which gave us a title to them of far greater 
dignity and strength than what is generally known 
‘Indian title. We held, or had a right 
to them, under a fee-simple title, and we were there- 
fore entitled to their full value, according to what 
they could be sold for by a judicious course of manage- 
ment. Were we denied their proceeds, and confined 
to the comparatively paltry sums, for particular pur- 
poses, specified in the treaty, we should be deprived 
of what is just and right, and was promised to us, 
and the treaty would be made a cheat and a fraud. 

“The reservations, and payments to individuals, com- 
prised no part of the compensation for the country 
ceded. The former, and, in part, the latter, were noth- 
ing less than bribes or inducements, held out to the 
cupidity of individuals, to procure their assent to the 
treaty; and such of the latter as did not partake of 
this character, were mere indemnity for individual 
property. We have not the means of making an 
exact calculation, but all the other obligations and 
payments mentioned in the treaty, that could in any 
way be considered as constituting compensation for 
our country, fall considerably short of one million of 
dollars, as we have no doubt you will find on an ex- 
amination of that point. They do not amount to half of 
what we were offered in 1826, when we promptly, and 
without hesitation, rejected the proposition and offers 
of the government; and it is certainly not to be re- 
garded as at all likely, that, only four years after 
that time, with no change in our sentiments against 
ceding our country, we would consent to receive a 
sum therefor materially less than we had then refused. 
It is known that the value of our improvements, not 
provided for in the treaty, and the property lost by us 
during emigration, would amount to more than the 
aggregate of the obligations and payments referred to; 
so that, in fact, unless we obtain what we are now 
contending we are entitled to, we shall receive no real 
compensaticn, whatever, for the large and valuable 
cession made by us in the treaty of 1830. 

“We ceded over or full seven millions of acres of 
as fine and valuable country as the government ever 
obtained from any Indian tribe; and the obligations 
and payments to which we have referred, mentioned 
in the treaty, would not constitute a compensation 
anything like adequate, even for the mere Indian 
title, while that by which we held the country was 
of far greater value, and entitled us to a far larger 
measure of consideration. 

“In claiming the proceeds of our lands, we ask for 
nothing more than was allowed to other tribes about 
the same time, and even to some who held their pos- 
sessions only by the generally and unjustly depre- 
ciated ‘Indian title.’ It was conceded to the Chicka- 
Saws and others as a right to which they were en- 
titled. The former lived by our side, and their coun- 
try, though adjoining ours, was less desirable and 
valuable, and they held it only by the Indian title. 
We know of no reason why we should be less liberally 
dealt with. On the contrary, we believe if there be 
any one Indian tribe, which, more than any other, is 
deserving of generous and magnanimous treatment 
by the government, that tribe is the Choctaws. Our 
relations with the United States have always been 
of an important character—more so than those of 
most other tribes; but we have given the government 
less trouble and concern, we venture to assert, than 
any other of our strength and importance. 

“The Choctaws have always been the fast friends 
of the United States and their citizens. They have 


809 


stood by them in war, fought on their side, and freely 
shed their blood in their defense. Neither the elo- 
quence of the renowed Tecumseh, nor the rich presents 
sent to them by the British, during the last war with 
that power, could induce them to break their pledges 
of friendship and fidelity. They were importuned and 
beseeched by their misled brethren, the Creeks, to 
join them in their hostilities against the United States. 
They refused. The Creeks then begged them to re- 
main neutral. They answered by sending that great 
Captain, General Jackson, an effective force, to aid 
him in subduing them; while, during the hostilities, 
they guarded and saved from destruction many of 
the white settlements in that section of the country. 
The Choctaws have never raised the hatchet against 
the United States; they have never stained their hands 
with the blood of a white man; and no American citi- 
zen has ever had good cause to complain of wrong or 
injustice received at their hands. They have always 
submitted, quietly and uncomplainingly, to the policy 
and wishes of the government—too much so, in fact, 
for their own interests. Other tribes, that have acted 
differently, have been treated with far more liberality. 

“We ask you, our respected agent and friend, and 
at the same time the representative and friend of 
the government, to examine somewhat into our past 
transactions with it; to ascertain the vast amount of 
territory we have ceded to it at different times, and 
for how inadequate an amount of consideration, and 
to satisfy yourself whether our unvarying good faith, 


Jong-tried fidelity, quiet submission to the policy of 


the government, and the very limited and inadequate 
benefits we have received from it in return, do not 
now, at so important a crisis in the history of our 
people, entitle us, and our views and wishes, to the 
most liberal and generous consideration. 

“With great regard, your obedient and humble 


servants, 
PLP YTCHUYNN, 
ISRAEL FOLSOM, 
SAMUEL GARLAND, 
DICKSON W. LEWIS, 


Choctaw Delegation. 
GEN. DOUGLAS H. COOPER, 
U. S. Agent for the Choctaws, Washington City.” 
—‘Correspondence with Reference to the Negotia- 
tions of the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty of 1855,” pp. 
26-29. 
APPENDIX XVITII—4. 


PROPOSITIONS SUBMITTED BY THE CHICKA- 
SAWS. 


‘Washington City, April 26, 1855. 

“Gentlemen: We have had the pleasure to receive 
a communication from your agent, General Cooper, 
informing us that you are willing to receive and con- 
sider any proposition we may see fit to make, in 
reference to the re-adjustment of the boundary of the 
Chickasaw district, and the political relations of the 
Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, as established by the 
conventions of 1837 and 1854. 

“Trusting that you are now well satisfied, that the 
best interest of your people would be promoted by 
conforming to the wishes of the Government of the 
United States, respecting the relations between them 
and the Chickasaws, we proceed at once to submit 
for your consideration two propositions; each of which, 
we are convinced, ought to be considered liberal and 
satisfactory. 

“First Proposition—That a convention be signed 
and concluded, relinquishing on the part of the Choc- 
taws, all title and claim to the land within the limits 
of the Chickasaw district, and conceding to the Chick- 
asaws exclusive ownership and jurisdiction, as an in- 
dependent tribe, within said limits; they agreeing to 
pay in full therefor ($300,000) three hundred thousand 
dollars. 

“Second Proposition.—That a convention be signed. 
and concluded providing: 

1st. That the Chickasaws shall have the right, in 
perpetuity, of a separate and independent government 
over all that part of the Chickasaw district which 
is east of the 98° of west longitude. 

2d. That no portion of the territory west of the 98° 
of longitude shall ever be sold, or otherwise disposed 
of, except with the consent, and for the equal benefit, 
of both tribes; and until disposed of, it shall be under 
the jurisdiction and government of the Chickasaws. 


SIO 


38d. That the Choctaws and Chickasaws shall, equally 
and alike, have the privilege of settling within the 
territorial limits of either tribe. 

4th. That, in full consideration of the foregoing 
concessions, the Chickasaws immediately pay over to 
the Choctaw delegation ($100,000) one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. 

“Soliciting an early response to this communication, 
we remain, 

Your friend and brothers, ~ 
s 
EDMUND PICKENS, x 


mark, 
SAMPSON FOLSOM, 
Chickasaw Delegates. 
MESSRS. P. P. PITCHLYNN, SAMUEL GARLAND, 
ISRAEL FOLSOM, D. H. LEWIS, Choctaw Delegates.” 


DECISION OF THE CHOCTAW DELEGATION, IN 
COUNCIL, ON THE PROPOSITIONS OF THE 
CHICKASAW DELEGATION, AND GENERAL 

TERMS UPON WHICH THEY WILL CON- 
SENT TO A NEW ARRANGEMENT 
WITH THE CHICKASAWS. 


“The Choctaw delegation reject, altogether, the first 
proposition of the Chickasaw delegation. In their let- 
ter to Gen. Cooper, Choctaw agent, of April 24th, they 
stated, emphatically, that they could not, under any 
circumstances, agree to any such proposition, for rea- 
sons which they gave. It was only a modified pro- 
position which they agreed to consider. 

“The second proposition of the Chickasaw delega- 
tion, being a modified one, they have taken it into 
consideration. They cannot agree to it without mate- 
rial modifications. 

1st. They wish a western outlet, past or through 
the proposed modified Chickasaw district. It would 
be awkward and unsatisfactory to have their country 
divided, and their jurisdiction sundered, as would be 
the case by the Chickasaw district running entirely 
across from Red River to the Canadian, as proposed. 
In order to give them such an outlet, they propose 
a restricted northern boundary for the Chickasaw 
district, viz: a due east and west line, at least thirty 
miles from the Canadian at the nearest point. The 
manifest importance and propriety of a modification 
of their proposition in this respect. 

2d. The Choctaw delegation cannot consent to con- 
cede, to their Chickasaw brethren, jurisdiction over 
the country which may be thrown out by the con- 
traction of their district. 

38d. The Choctaw delegation will consent to take 
the $100,000 offered by the Chickasaws, provided they 
will relinquish all interest in the country, thrown out 
of their present district by the contraction of its 
limits. If the Chickasaws cannot consent to such 
relinquishment, the Choctaw delegation cannot agree 
to the concession desired by the Chickasaws, for a 
less sum than $200,000. 

4th. It must be distinctly understood, and, if nec- 
essary, provided for in any new agreement which may 
be entered into, that the relative interest of control 
of the two tribes, with respect to the disposition of 
the country within the Chickasaw district, shall re- 
main as fixed and defined by the convention of 1837. 

5th, Other proper details—as to rights of residence 
and property, of persons of either tribe, within the 
limits of the jurisdiction of the other; surrender of 
criminals escaping from the one and taking refuge 
in the other, &c. &c.—to be provided for in the new 
convention. PP: PY PIiCHEnyinne 

ISRAEL FOLSOM, 
SAMUEL GARLAND, 
DICKSON W. LEWIS, 
‘Choctaw Delegation. 
Washington City, April 30, 1855.” 
_—‘‘Correspondence with Reference to the Negotia- 
eae es the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty of 1855,’ pp. 
3 zi 


APPENDIX XVIII—5. 


A DESCRIPTION OF THE UPPER AND LOWER 
CREEKS IN 1845. 


“The nation is divided into two parties, designated 
as the Upper Towns and Lower Towns or McIntosh 


APPENDIX 


party. This division, according to their traditions, 
has always existed. Indeed, it is stated that they 
have only been known to each other but little up- 
wards of a century, and their first meeting upon 
the banks of the Chattahooche was in a hostile atti- 
tude, each deeming the other a belligerent and a sep- 
arate and distinct nation; and only upon the eve of 
battle did they discover their affinity of language, 
which, though essentially the same, has some peculiar- 
ities possessed by the one different from the other. 
Scattered promiscuously among both parties are the 
remnants of the different tribes subjugated by them, 
which consist of the following: Hitchatees, Uchees, 
Alabamas, Cawawsawdas, and Natchees. Of the last- 
mentioned interesting tribe, but few remain; they still, 
however, as well as the rest, retain their original 
tongue. There were many others, but they are now 
entirely extinct, and even their names are forgotten. 
The members of these tribes possess all the privileges 
and immunities of Creek citizens. Each party has 
its own head chief, &c. Roly McIntosh, the chief of 
the Lower Towns, is also vested with the dignity of 
head chief of the nation, and he presides as such in 
the general council of the nation, which generally 
convenes once a year, but at no particular period. 
Its deliberations are confined to subjects exclusively 
national, and which affect both parties in common. 
Those subjects having reference to their own party 
concerns meet the action of their own councils, which 
are held separate and distinct, and in which neither 
interferes with the other. They are conducted pre- 
cisely similar, and are composed of the chiefs and law- 
makers of the different towns (or more properly 
clans) adhering to each party. These chiefs are gen- 
erally selected from the older citizens. . . . They 
have gone so far this year as to exact a fine of from 
two dollars to three and a half dollars a head upon 
all non-attendants at their ‘busks,’ green corn dances, 
&c., or who do not drink the physic, a most nauseous 
compound of poisonous weeds. Their authority is 
often exerted arbitrarily, and their laws are unjust 
and unnecessarily severe. It is a standing law of the 
nation, ‘if any person preach or hold religious meet- 
ings, whether white or red, he shall for the first of- 
fence receive fifty lashes on his bare back, and for 
the second offense one hundred lashes.’ To maintain 
their authcrity, they suppcrt, out of the annuity, an 
immense number of subordinates, known as law-. 
makers, light horse, &c. The people stand in much 
awe of them, and blindly pay them the obedience they 
exact; they have no voice in their appointment nor in 
their acts; when a vacancy occurs, the place is filled 
not by an election, but by the nomination made by 
some noted chief.’’—Rep. of the Com. of Indian Affairs, 
1845, pp. 515-16. 

“The Lower Towns, from their closer proximity and 
greater intercourse with the whites, exhibit a much 
greater advance in civilization and manner than their 
brethren of the Upper Towns. The old custom of set- 
tling together compactly and cultivating the town 
fields, has been altogether abandoned, and they are 
no longer visible in this portion of the nation; the 
people are _ settled promiscuously throughout the 
country; many of their farms and residences would 
do credit to the States. Ornaments, silver plates, 
ear-rings, beads, and paint, are grown into disuse, and 
seldom or never seen except at their festivals or 
ball plays. The dress of the whites is becoming com- 
mon, with the exception of the hunting shirt, which 
is generally of gay printed calico, and may be con- 
ceived quite picturesque. It is tenaciously adhered 
to, and is common to all Indians. Hats, vests, pan- 
taloons, and shoes may almost be said to be the coms 
mon habiliments of the males, and dresses of the 
richest materials of silks and muslins, made, too, in 
accordance with the latest fashions, are often to be 
seen upon the persons of the female classes. Gold 
and silver watches, rich and costly articles of jewelry, 
viz: chains, rings, brooches, &c., &c., are also used by 
the rich. The English language, though not generally 
spoken, is understood by many; and a strong desire 
is manifested by the community at large to throw off 
all their old superstitious ways and customs, and to 
adopt the ways of the whites. On the other hand, 
however, it can be said that the number of the in- 
digent and needy is much greater here in this part 
of the nation. The use of whiskey, too, is more gen- 
eral, and its effects more visible. As before stated, 
there is no town, nor even a village, to be met with, 


APPENDIX 


yet the people are every year summoned, to their 
great dissatisfaction, to assist in building or repair- 
ing the town council houses, &c.; in many instances, 
to leave their crops and go a distance of 20 or 30 
miles;—this service is enforced, too, under a penalty 
of a pecuniary fine. The settlements of the Lower 
Towns extend from the Verdigris River, on it and 
between it and the Arkansas, on both banks, to the 
Red Fork, a distance of about eighty miles, and an 
average breadth of fifty. They are separated from 
the settlements of the Upper Towns by an uninter- 
rupted prairie, extending from the bottoms of the 
Arkansas, south, to those of the north fork of the 
Canadian, a distance of about forty miles; they extend 
from there westward, between the Deep fork, North 
fork, and Main Canadian to Little river, a distance 
of about eighty miles, and an average breadth of about 
sixty. From their peculiar location, they have less 
intercourse with the whites, and consequently do not 
exhibit so much improvements. Their dress, too, is 
more after the aboriginal form; they are forbidden 
to adopt that of the whites under penalty of lashes; 
they are, however, generally speaking, more enter- 
prising and industrious; they grow cotton, and prac- 
tice the domestic arts of spinning and weaving to 
a greater extent than the others. Cases of extreme 
poverty are more rarely to be met with. The chiefs 
are more generous, and their policy more liberal 
than those of the Lower Towns. In addition to the 
two blacksmiths’ shops, furnished them by treaty 
stipulations, they have a public shop, which is sup- 
ported out of their portion of the annuity; they 
have also devoted a portion of it to the erection of 
a water mill, and the support of a millwright; they 
have also a wheelwright, but he is paid by the govern- 
ment; they have not so much wealth as the Lower 
Town chiefs, generally speaking—(the McIntosh fam- 
ily are supposed to be worth $150,000, and B. Marshall 
some $50,000,) yet they contribute nothing towards 
anything of this kind—to alleviating’ the distresses of 
the poor, or to effecting any improvement in their 
country; however, it is reported that Opothleyoholo 
is by far the richest man in the whole nation.” .. . 

“Character.—The Creeks are grave and serious in 
their deportment, and are dignified and imposing in 
their councils. They are slow in the expression of 
their feelings, but are sure in the resentment of in- 
sult and affront. Though friendly to the white man, 
yet they are easily influenced and prejudiced against 
him, and are rather credulous than otherwise; when 
once an enemy, they are seldom afterwards a friend.” 
eg of Com. of Indian Affairs, 1845, pp. 516-17 and 


“Education is becoming a subject of deep interest 
to the Creeks; they properly appreciate the necessity 
of educating the rising generation, with the view of 
rescuing them from the superstition of their fathers, 
and preparing them for the more useful occupations 
of life. There are two manual labor schools in the 
nation, one connected with the Methodist, and the 
other with the Presbyterian board of missions; the 
gentlemen at the head of each are moral and intel- 


ligent men, and every way qualified to discharge the 


duties of their respective positions—a trust of great 
responsibility. They each have under their charge 
eighty pupils, who are selected from different por- 
tions of the nation, who are taught most of the Eng- 
lish branches, the science of agriculture; and the prin- 
ciples of morality and religion, instilled into them 
when they are young, are not forgotten when they re- 
turn to their homes, and exert a happy influence upon 
those who have not been so fortunate. There are 
twelve neighborhood schools, which were located by 
the chiefs in the towns most populous and able to 
sustain them. The cause has been somewhat retarded 
by the want of comfortable school houses, but this 
difficulty will soon be remedied, as I have recently 
had to have new school houses erected and several 
repaired, and have contracted to have built three more, 
which will be completed in a short time; and in con- 
nection with this subject I will remark, that finding 
the temporary agency building erected by my pre- 
decessor Colonel Raeford, insufficient, I have entered 
into contract for the building of a good and sub- 
stantial house, which is now in couse of erection and 
will be shortly completed. The teachers of the neigh- 
borhood schools are of such a character as to exert 
a good influence over the pupils under their charge 


‘as a teacher to his people 


S11 


and the people of the neighborhood in which the 
schools are located. Near five hundred children are 
receiving instruction at the several schools in the 
nation, many of whom are making rapid progress, 
which will place the rising generation greatly in 
advance of the present in all that constitutes a 
moral and intelligent people.’—Report of Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1853, pp. 137-38. 


APPENDIX XVIII—6. 
THE STORY OF JOHN DOUGLAS BEMO. 


John Douglas Bemo, who claimed to be a nephew 
of the Seminole chief, Osceola, was born in Florida 
about 1822. At the age of nine or ten he was carried 
to sea from St. Augustine, Florida. After nearly ten 
years of wandering, during which he escaped the long 
war between the United States and his people, he, 
by chance, arrived in Philadelphia, where he met 
Reverend Mr. Douglas, pastor of the Mariner’s Church 
in that city. Mr. Douglas and his family, with whom 
he lived for more than a year, took a deep interest 
in Bemo. He received every kindness at the hands 
of the pastor and his friends, who provided him with 
the opportunities of instruction and schooling during 
his stay in Philadelphia. At last, Mr. Douglas wrote 
to Commissioner Hartley, at Washington, telling 
Bemo’s story and recommending him, because of his 
fine disposition, good character, and opportunities, 
in the Indian Territory. 
Accordingly, provisions were made that he might go 
to the West, a plain log school house (the first erected 
for the benefit of the Seminoles in the Indian Terri- 
tory) being erected near Prospect Hill, Creek Nation. 

In recommending John Bemo for this work, Com- 
missioner Crawford wrote Major William Armstrong 
as follows: 

“He can read and write, and speak well in public; 
is a person of irreproachable morals and conduct, and 
good strong constitution. Having acquired some 
knowledge from modes of life and associations there, 
he may be very useful among and to his wild and 
untutored brother Seminoles. The most effective way 
of benefiting them through him, will be by making 
him a teacher of their children, although his own 
knowledge is very limited; yet as he understands our 
language, and knows a little of his native tongue, 
and will be an instructor of pure Seminoles, he .. . 
may be regarded as peculiarly qualified to direct and 
aid them up to a certain point; while the fact of his 
being one of their brethren will probably remove 
their repugnance to attending school.’—Report of 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1843, p. 380. 

A salary of three hundred dollars was appropriated 
for John Bemo who began his work as a teacher in 
March, 1844. In his report in that year, Major Wil- 
liam Armstrong wrote the following: 

“John D. Bemo’s course has fully sustained the 
good opinion his friends had formed of him; and, 
no doubt, if he continues faithful, he will be instru- 
mental in dispensing much good to his people. He 
preaches regularly once, and frequently twice a week. 


When Reverend John Lilley began Presbyterian mis- 
sion work among the Seminoles in 1849, John D. 
Bemo was his first native assistant. It was at this 
time that the latter accompanied Rev. James R. Ram- 
sey in his search of a Mr. Eakins, a missing member 
of the Presbytery, whom they thought was among 
the Seminoles, but was later found to have gone to 
Texas. 

In 1844, John Bemo made his first school report 
to the Indian Office. While it is probable that he 
may have received some assistance in writing the 
following letter, yet it is valuable in that it is the 
first report of educational efforts among the Seminoles 
in the Indian Territory, and the more so since the 
teaching was done by a young Seminole of the tribe 
itself, who had such an interesting life story. 

“Prospect Hill, Creek Nation, 
August 24, 1844. 

“Sir: According to your instructions, I forward you 
the report of my school. 

“T opened the school on the 15th of March last. 
On my first opening there were forty children at- 
tended; they came under the expectation that I would 
board them. When they found this was not the case, 
they began to leave the school, until it was reduced 


8i2 


to fifteen, at which number it still remains. They 
are all boys; eight of them are in two syllables, one 
in three, and six in their “ab’s.” They have become 
much interested and very desirous to learn. There 
are many more who live a considerable distance from 
the school, who are anxious to come, but the dis- 
tance, they say, is too far to carry their dinner, and 
therefore they cannot come. 

‘If arrangements could be made to board them, 
or even give them one meal in the middle of the 
day, there would be a full school. I regret very 
much I am not able to do it, as I am satisfied those 
children. would be brought on very fast; and if they 
could be kept at school, it would have a tendency 
to wean them from the Indian habits, and prepare 
them for adopting the manners and habits of civilized 
life. All the Seminole parents are very desirous their 
children should go to school. 

“T am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

“JOHN D. BEMO.” 
THOMAS J. JUDGE, Seminole Agent. 

—Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1844, 

pp. 374-75. 


APPENDIX XVIII—7. 


CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE CREEKS AND 
SEMINOLES, 1854. 


Attitude of the Creeks. 


“I was instructed by the letter of the Superinten- 
dent of Indian Affairs, of August 15, 1854, to inquire 
into and investigate certain charges brought by the 
Creek delegation in their letter of May 25, 1854, to 
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in relation to the 
unfortunate character of the relations existing be- 
tween them and the Seminole Indians. By the treaty 
of 1845, the Creeks consented that the Seminoles 
should have a home in their country, provided they 
became a component part thereof, subject to the con- 
trol of the Creek council, and with no distinction be- 
tween the two tribes, except in the management of 
their pecuniary affairs. The Seminoles consented to 
these conditions, and a home was assigned them in 
the Creek nation, where they have resided ever since. 
After investigating the charges made by the Creek 
delegation, I have come to the conclusion that they 
were fully authorized in making the charges con- 
tained in their letter of May 25, 1854, and that it 
was proper that the subject should have been brought 
to the notice of the department. The Seminoles have 
utterly failed to comply with the conditions of the 
treaty, and claim to be independent of the Creeks, 
and refuse to be governed by their council; they have 
entirely disregarded the Creek law against the in- 
troduction of liquors in the country; they are almost 
exclusively the ones who bring liquor in the country, 
a portion of which they dispose of to the Creeks, 
this has exerted a very bad influence over many of 
the Creeks, not only making them dissipated, but caus- 
ing them to disregard their own laws upon the sub- 
ject of introducing liquor into the nation, because 
they conclude if the Seminoles bring it into the coun- 
try with impunity they have the same right. 

“The Creeks have submitted to the violation of 
their laws because they are naturally a peaceful peo- 
ple; but the lapse of time since the separation of 
the Seminoles from the Creeks has so estranged them 
that now there is no probability of their ever uniting 
with the Creeks and living harmoniously together. 
The latter are aware of this, and are anxious to rid 
themselves of them, unless the United States would 
use its authority in the enforcement of the treaty; 
the Creeks say that if this is not done at a proper 
time they will take the remedy in their own hands. 
In a conversation with John Jumper, the principal 
chief of the Seminoles, on this subject, he informed 
me that the Seminoles had been deceived by the 
Government of the United States in regard to the 
selection of a country west of the Mississippi. He 
says that they were promised, before they left Florida, 
that if they would remove to the west a country 
would be given them of their own, where they could 
make and enforce their own laws, but instead, that 
now they have no country of their own, and were 
compelled to give up their nationality for the privi- 
lege of living in the country of the Creeks; that he 
is altogether opposed to the treaty of 1845, and desires 
that the government will give his people a country 


APPENDIX 


of their own. I would respectfully suggest, that in 
view of the unfriendly relations between the Creeks 
and Seminoles, something should be done to pacify 
them. he peace and harmony of this whole 
frontier require that this question should receive 
prompt attention.’—Report of Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, 1855, pp. 1386-37. 


Attitude of the Seminoles. 


‘Tt seems palpably prominent to my mind that the 
Seminoles, no matter how provocative their wars in 
Florida were, have been treated with neglect and 
injustice. Compelled to merge their tribal organiza- 
tion into that of the Creeks—an act which the larger 
portion of the tribe regard as arbitrary, unjust, and 
detrimental—it is strange that no facilities were 
furnished them for education and improvement. Pos- 
sessing their own annuities, scant though they are, 
they should also have had their own school, farming, 
and blacksmith fund. They will not share with the 
Creeks in these, even were they invited so to do; 
and if any improvement is expected from them it 
will only be attained after a separation from the 
Creeks is effected, and the means of culture furnished 
them by the government. 

“During the summer I convened a council of the 
tribe, for the purpose of preparing a statement of 
their complaints, demands, and desires, to be by them 
communicated to the general Creek council in an 
amicable letter. In that letter they presented the 
grounds why they deemed themselves a separate and 
independent people. There is no prospect of their 
ever becoming an amicable, integral part of the 
Creek tribe, and consequently, with that spirit in 
their present relation, no improvement among them 
can be hoped for. They earnestly desire a separation 
from the Creeks, and wish that they may be person- 
ally heard by the Government of the United States, 
sometime during the ensuing session of Congress, 
through a delegation of their tribe, with their agent, 
sent for to Washington, when they will be able to 
make known all their grievances, claims, and desires. 
I think that such would be the speediest and least 
expensive manner of settling these people, of bring- 
ing them to improvement, and the only humane and 
practicable way of inducing the Seminoles yet re- 
maining in Florida to immigrate. That they never 
will consent to do so, in the present condition of the 
Seminoles west, is manifest to all who are at all 
conversant with these people and their character. 

“The discontent and complaint among the Seminoles 
at their connection with the Creeks have, during the 
time I have been in office, been confined to mere 
utterance. No violence has ever taken place. 

“T am of the opinion, from what I have heard said 
among them, that the Creeks themselves are also 
wearied of this union to their ‘troublesome neigh- 
bors,’ and that they are anxious for its end. They 
cannot live harmoniously. Complaints of Creeks 
against the Seminoles, of Seminoles against the 
Creeks, are continually arising. There is no such 


thing as unity between them, nor the prospect of it,. 


and a disunion would result to the benefit of both 
tribes. 

“Justice to the Creeks causes me to say here, that 
the tribe, as a Nation, in the midst of their own ad- 
vancement, are desirous that the Seminoles should 
become a happy and improved people. But they must 
be satisfied that such state cannot arrive under the 
present organization of the Seminoles. The latter, 
high spirited, and not always mindful of Creek laws 
and the treaty of 1845, are prone to disobey those 
laws, eSpecially in the introduction of whiskey, not 
so much from a law-breaking spirit as from the 
thought that it is Creek and not Seminole law. This 
course arouses the ire of the Creeks, more, I appre- 
hend, from the defiance of their law than from the 
loss of the good to be brought about by the law. Still, 
differences arise and ill feelings are engendered and 
fostered. On the other hand, the Seminoles complain 
that, in many transactions, the Creek laws are op- 
pressive; that they are acts passed by councils to 
which they send no voice (the Creeks have repeatedly 
invited them to take seats in their councils, but the 
Seminoles have refused to do so on the ground that 
they would thus recognize the right of Creek legisia- 
tion over them), and that therefore those laws are 
domineering, unequal, and unjust. 


rs 


oe oe 


APPENDIX 


‘T am firmly convinced that the Seminoles will 
continue thus to disregard Creek laws as often as 
they can, will continue to grow more discontented, 
will continue to become more unsettled, unless some 
steps are taken, until indeed they are separated from 
the Creeks upon fair and equitable terms and condi- 
tions as respect both tribes. In that event, and in no 
other, I verily believe that the Seminoles will im- 
prove in the same ratio as the Creeks have done; 
that the Creeks themselves will be benefited, and 
that the two tribes will then live harmonious neigh- 
bors, which I know to be the sincere desire of the 
best spirits of each Nation. 

“To the hope of this political separation from the 
Creeks the Seminoles are now anxiously turning, and 
the consequences of its finally proving but a false one 
will be deplorable. The feeling is become so strong 
that a great many of the Seminoles who have here- 
tofore become Creeks, as it were, to all intents, are 
proposing to rejoin their tribe. The prospect upon 
the separation is favorable for the complete reunion 
of the whole tribe in one settled body, should it 
please the government of the United States to allot 
the - aaa a separate country.’’—Ibid., 1855, pp. 
170-73. 


APPENDIX XVIII—S8. 


DESCRIPTION OF CHEROKEES IN 1842, 

“. . . . They are improving in intellectual condi- 
tion. They have executive, legislative, and judicial 
departments; an organized government; a principal 
and assistant chief, elective every four years: a coun- 
ceil and committee, organized somewhat upon the prin- 
ciple of the House of Representatives and Senate of 
the United States—the former consisting of 24 mem- 
bers, and the latter of 16, elective every two years. 
They sit annually, and are usually in session from 
three to four weeks. The judiciary consists of a 
Supreme Bench, and Circuit Court, and District Court; 
the first consists of five members, the second of four, 
and the latter of eight. They have written laws, and 
a criminal code. The circuit court sits spring and 
fall; the Supreme Court once a year; the District 
Court whenever an emergency arises. They have 
juries, and hear pleadings. : 

“The judges of the Circuit Court and_ District 
benches are appointed more for their probity and 
personal worth than their legal attainments, and will 
compare in point of moral worth with any similar 
body in the United States. They are rigid in the 
execution of their laws, generally impartial in the 
administration of justice, as yet necessarily in a 
rude state. As many as four executions have taken 
Brace in one year... . . 

“There are three missionary establishments located 
among them, of which a detailed report has been 
called for, and will be supplied. They have a school 
fund of their own, which they are wisely appropriat- 
ing to the diffusion of knowledge throughout the 
Nation, by appointing trustees to superintend the 
disbursements. 

“The Cherokees, as a people, are not disposed to 
labor; but within the last two years there is a mani- 
fest change in this particular, both from necessity 
and inclination. They are now engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits. There is no game within 150 or 200 
miles of their limits. Their country is well watered, 
and supplies abundantly all the products known to 
that latitude, such as corn, wheat, rye, oats, tobacco, 
and hemp. Within the limits of the Nation there are 
two abundant and valuable salt springs. One of them 
is leased to a Cherokee for a considerable sum, but 
is not worked to much advantage either to the pro- 
prietor or the Nation. .... 

“There is a small class, termed mountain Indians, 
who are ignorant, and but slightly progressed in 
moral and intellectual improvement; have few com- 
forts, and plant barely sufficient for subsistence. 

“Many of the Cherokees own slaves, and many may 
be called comfortable livers; all of them own stock 
pole, yet make little beyond their own consump- 

Gus: |. 

“Among the greatest evils that the Cherokees have 
to complain of, is the present mode of their trial and 
punishments for minor offenses committed, or alleged 
to be committed, on the persons of United States 
citizens, while in their Nation, and upon their own 
soil; which broils are, eight times out of ten, pro- 


813 


voked on the part of itinerant citizens from all parts 
of the United States, tempted or induced there by 
gain. It is too much the habit abroad to cry out 
‘Indian Outrage,’ without a just knowledge of facts. 

“All persons familiar with that portion of the Chero- 
kees bordering on Crawford and Washington counties, 
in Arkansas, know that they are industrious, intel- 
ligent, and neighborly disposed. The inhabitants of 
those two populous counties are distinguished as a 
laboring, intelligent, high-minded, and judicious peo- 
ple. It is not from them the difficulties occur, or 
complaints are made, but from a plundering predatory 
class, upon whose oath before a magistrate the Chero- 
kees are hunted down by the military, and taken a 
distance of 200 miles, to Little Rock, for trial; there 
lodged in jail, to await slow justice. These are evils 
of no small import, and of every day’s occurrence, and 
which produce angry and embittered feelings. The 
evil is pointed out; the remedy left to the humane 
suggestion of the honorable Secretary of War.” 

—Letter of P. M. Butler, Cherokee Agent in Rep. 
Com. Ind. Affairs, 1842, pp. 447-49. 


DESCRIPTION OF CHEROKEE LIFE IN 1853. 


“Many of the full-blood Cherokees yet have a great 
aversion to the medicine of the regular faculty, and 
prefer the roots and herbs of their own native doc- 
tors. The more enlightened portion are fast losing 
that prejudice, and always call in a regular physician 
when one can be had; and it affords me much pleas- 
ure to be able to state that they have among them 
several physicians of high reputation in their profes- 
sion, both whites and natives. The Cherokees have 
great reason to be thankful for the abundant yield 
with which the earth has repaid the labor of the 
husbandman, The common people are making slow 
but steady advances in the science of agriculture; 
the more enlightened and intelligent portion who 
have means live much in the same style of the 
southern gentlemen of easy circumstances. Many of 
the dwellings of that class are large, comfortable, and 
handsome buildings; their fields, too, are well en- 
closed with good rail fences, and their yards and gar- 
dens are handsomely paled in, and the grounds taste- 
fully laid off and ornamented with rare and beautiful 
shrubbery. The moral influence which is being 
brought to bear upon the youth of the country, 
through the indefatigable efforts of the principal 
chief, and other intelligent and leading men of the 
Nation, in the great cause of education, must tell 
powerfully upon the rising generation. The common 
schools of the Nation were never in a more prosperous 
condition, and the exercises of the past year in the 
male and female seminaries have given entire satis- 
faction to the parents of the students and to the 
friends of education throughout the Nation. Many 
of the Cherokee women are neat and industrious 
housewives, and have acquired many of the finer ac- 
complishments of the whites. Some of them are ac- 
complished needle women; their taste and skill in 
embroidery may be seen at the Crystal Palace in New 
York, where has been sent for exhibition a full Indi- 
an suit of dressed buckskin, beautifully embroidered 
with silk. This beautiful piece of work was designed 
and executed by the ladies in the family of Mr. J. 
Payne. The art of manufacturing cloth, both wool 
and cotton, is carried on to a considerable extent in 
some of the families. Some specimens which I have 
seen from the loom of Mrs. W. A. Adair would have 
held strong competition for prizes at any of the 
agricultural fairs of the States.” 

; Beers Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1853, fr 

82, 


APPENDIX XVITII—9. 


SCHOOL REPORT IN THE CHEROKEE 
NATION FOR 1859, 


“Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, August 30, 1859. 
“Dear Sir: As superintendent of public schools of 


PUBLIC 


- the Cherokee Nation, I have in charge thirty schools, 


which are located at the following named points: 
Boot’s Chapel, Nannie E. Boynton, teacher. 
Pleasant Valley, S. J. Wolfe, teacher. 
Clear Creek, E. J. Burtholf, teacher. 
Caney Creek, Sarah E. Walker, teacher. 
Post Oak Grove, James D. Alberty, teacher. 
Requa, Benj. W. Carter, teacher. 


814 


Vann’s Valley, Eliza Bushyhead, teacher. 

Mount Clermont, Nannie J. Rider, teacher. 

Falls Creek, Martha J. Keys, teacher. 

Delaware Town, H. L. Foreman, teacher. 

Long Prairie, Susan Ross, teacher. 

Beatie’s Prairie, Moses C. Frye, teacher. 

Honey Creek, Ruth Moseley, teacher. 

Echo Bend, Nancy Thompson, teacher. 

Baptist Mission, W. P. Upham, teacher. 

Pea Vine, Esther Smith, teacher. 

Oak Grove, Lou M. Ross, teacher. 

Locust Vale, Geo. H. Starr, teacher. 

Muddy Springs, Carrie E. Bushyhead, teacher. 

Sugar Valley, Martha J. Dameron, teacher. 

Forest Hill, E. J. Ross, teacher. 

Lee’s Creek, Nannie Holmes, teacher. 

Arkansas Bottom, Hugh M. Adair, teacher. 

Gunter’s Prairie, Jane Burthol, teacher. 

Sweet Springs, Cynthia T. Frye, teacher. 

Salisaw, Corinne E. Barnes. teacher. 

Wild Horse, Eliza Holt, teacher. 

Green Leaf, Jno. G. Schrimsher, teacher. 

Webber’s Falls, Delia Mosely, teacher. 

Briar Town, Victoria Hicks, teacher. 

Attending these schools are about fifteen hundred 
children of both sexes. 

Our schools are under the charge of no religious 
denomination or society, but are supported by invest- 
ments belonging to the Cherokee Nation, the interest 
of which yields about ten thousand dollars yearly. 
Out of this we pay our teachers and purchase books. 

Our teachers are all Cherokees, with the exception 
of W. P. Upham and Esther Smith; and all are well 
qualified for the task of instructing our children and 
youths, 

Our law requires all those desirous to become 
teachers in our schools to produce testimonials of 
good moral character and competency. 

We have an examining board, provided for by law, 
so that we are not often imposed upon by incompetent 
teachers. 

Very respectfully your friend, 
H. D. REESE, 
Sup’t. Public Schools, Cherokee Nation.” 
GEO. BUTLER, Esq. 

—Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 

1860, pp. 177-78. 


APPENDIX XVIII—10. 


THREATENED TROUBLE WITH THE CREEKS IN 
THE CARRYING OUT OF THE LIQUOR LAW. 


This subject is one of the most likely to produce 
serious collisions and: consequent mischief. For in- 
stance, the general council of the Creek, Cherokee, 
and other Indian tribes, have provided laws for the 
suppression of the sale of ardent spirits within their 
limits, and it is a fact notorious that no people are 
more prompt in putting their penal laws into execu- 
tion. Citizens of Indian blood alone are amenable to 
their laws; the white man is not bound by them, but 
by the intercourse laws passed by Congress. If this 
distinction was recognized and acted upon, and the 
Indian authorities intrusted with exclusive jurisdic- 
tion in all criminal cases provided for by their own 
statutes, except in the case of the commission of of- 
fenses by Indians upon the person or property of white 
men, their course of action would be clear; but the 
penalties under the Intercourse law, and most espe- 
cially for the offence of introducing spirituous liquors 
into the Indian territory, giving or vending the same 
by either an Indian or white man, is claimed to be 
tried in the United States district court, and punished 
under the provisions of the laws of Congress. 

The greatest number of instances within the nation 
are usually perpetrated by Indians, who have been, and 
are subject to, and are regularly punished by the in- 
flictions prescribed by the local authorities of the va- 
rious tribes. These, after receiving due punishment in 
the Indian country, are under the laws of Congress, 
caught up by the United States marshal, tried and 
punished a second time. This concurrent jurisdic- 
tion operating so oppressively has engendered the 
worst of feeling amongst the Creeks, who are, like 
the Choctaws and Cherokees, fully acquainted with 
our Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and 
Bill of Rights; and the more astute never fail to 
impart to the ignorant and illiterate the great prin- 


APPENDIX 


ciples of human liberty involved in these important 
State papers, that proclaim the equality of man, when 
notwithstanding they are encouraged to pass and en- 
force laws for the suppression of offences among their 
own people, that when they do so, it proves no bar 
to further prosecutions under our laws. They con- 
sider that a bare trial, even if acquitted, should, under 
our own maxims, shield them from further prosecu- 
tions. 

They should be admonished of the impropriety of 
taking cognizance of such offences, and debarred the 
privilege of suppressing the sale of ardent spirits 
within their limits, or as I conceive would be more 
proper, be permitted to exercise exclusive jurisdiction 
among their respective tribes. The double punishment, 
in the manner I have indicated, has aroused a feeling of 
indignation in the Creek nation that has reached a 
point heretofore unknown since their removal west. 
The feeling is so intense that hundreds have banded 
together, under the authority of subordinate chiefs, 
and have rescued from the hands of the United States 
deputy marshal persons taken for such offences; and 
they now openly proclaim their intention to die in 
the defence of rights which they consider as sacred 
to the red as to the white man. The excitement is 
such, that in two or three tuwns numbering about 
100 warriors each, it was deemed unsafe for the 
marshal recently appointed to office to attempt to 
retake these parties, who were rescued last June 
without the aid of the military. At the suggestion of 
Captain Little, U. S. Army, in command at Fort Gib- 
son, Colonel 8S. M. Hays, U. S. marshal, went into 
council with Messrs. McIntosh and B. Marshall, chiefs 
of that tribe, at the fort, when it was proposed to 
afford those chiefs an opportunity to exercise their 
influence, by every means in their power, to cause a 
surrender of the offenders, which, if not done by the 
28th instant, assurances were given that the United 
States marshal would be accompanied by the military 
force, and that all who opposed would be taken by 
the aid of the strong arm of the government, 

These towns are mainly composed of the wildest 
portion of the tribe, denominated the hostile Creeks; 
such as were brought west in chains, and are usually 
chained when taken by the marshal for any offence. 
They have determined to be enchained again only in 
the arms of death. 

The venerable McIntosh has his misgivings upon 
the subject of his ability to exercise any authority 
over them in the present crisis, as they believe they 
have been deceived and otherwise outrageously treated 
by the late marshal and his deputies. The worst of 
consequences are apprehended. Having but recently 
been put into possession of the facts, which appear 
unmistakable in their character, I have deemed it my 
duty to interpose whatever of influence I may be able 
to exercise by a communication to agent Garrett, re- 
quiring his immediate presence among them, and to 
make such suggestions as I might feel prudent and safe 
to make to him, such as could be carried out in good 
faith until the Department of the Interior temporarily, 
and Congress finally, could consider a change by law 
in relation to the subject of difference. To promise 
that which could not be conceded by the government 
would be worse than useless; for I am assured by 
Marshal Hays, now just returned from the nation, that 
the life of one of their chiefs, Colonel Benjamin Mar- 
shall, is suspended upon the present issue now being 
made. He has used his persuasions as well as author- 
ity in behalf of the exercise of strict punishment by 
the local authorities for every infraction of their laws 
regarding the sale of spirituous liquors, urging it as 
their prerogative, and that one punishment is all that 
is due to one and the same offence. Those who have 
banded together say that if those who, having once 
suffered, are taken and punished by the District Court 
of the United States, that Colonel Marshall’s life shall 
pay the forfeit. 

Several hundred men have pledged themselves, and 
have now warned him of his danger. I conceive it 
important to save this good man‘s life; and as no 
power under heaven can save him if they are per- 
secuted, it is impossible to convince them that it is 
anything short of downright persecution. Therefore 
I shall, as I deem it my solemn duty, insist upon an 
amnesty—a truce in all cases originating prior to the 
appointment of Mr. Hays to the office of United States 
marshal—until further information can be obtained 


APPENDIX 


in reference thereto from the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs and Secretary of the Interior, and to this end 
will await the action of the proper authorities with 
great interest.—Rep. of Com. of Indian Affairs for 
1853, pp. 375-7. 


APPENDIX XVIII—11. 
AN ATTACK OF THE PAWNEES ON THE CREEKS. 


“An unfortunate difficulty occurred between the peo- 
ple of the frontier settlements of the Upper Towns and 
a straggling party of Pawnee Marhars, [Maha] (of 
the Platte or Nebraska,) upon a marauding and horse- 
stealing expedition last winter, and which resulted in 
the death of seven of the latter; the circumstances 
attending it were duly communicated by me to the 
department at the time. The killing of these Indians 
is, however, greatly to be regretted. Reflecting upon 
the matter, and a close inquiry into the real circum- 
stances that caused the affray, lead me to the con- 
viction that the Creeks were over hasty, and all the 
alarm, commotion, and agitation which affected the 
nation subsequently could all have been obviated by 
their capture instead of killing these banditti of the 
prairies, and which they were well able to easily effect. 
Immediately after the event, a rumor was circulated 
that the Pawnee Marhars had returned in force; that 
they had attacked the settlements on Little River, 
and defeated a party of warriors under the command 
of Jim Boy, who was despatched against them, whilst 
the Osages, with whom they had combined, had at- 
tacked and were massacreing the people on the Red 
Fork, and were advancing towards the compact set- 
tlements. It was at one time represented that they 
had penetrated within a few miles of the agency. 
Nothing could exceed the alarm and terror excited 
and visible in all. I should not previously have be- 
lieved the Creeks to be so excitable a people; in ex- 
tenuation, however, it may be said that they knew 
no mercy would be shown by the invaders. Every- 
thing was in the greatest possible confusion. Here 
was to be seen a crowd of the poorer class of women 
on foot, loaded down with their children, and bundles 
containing their valuables; here a line of wagons 
laden with the property of the richer class, with their 
negro drivers, &c., &c., and their owners and their 
families on horseback; there, a warrior begrimed with 
paint, a rifle and tomahawk in hand making the wel- 
kin ring with the discordant yell of the war-whoop! 
The rivers were literally covered with canoes, laden 
with women, children, &c., &c., all wending their way 
to Fort Gibson. Here they all congregated, conceiv- 
ing themselves secure under its protection. I was 
waited upon by the chiefs in the night, and desired 
by them to require a commanding officer of Fort Gib- 
son to furnish a portion of his command; which was 
done, and a company of dragoons proceeded to the 
Canadian, and two companies of infantry were also 
sent up the Arkansas; (the reliance of the Indians 
upon the promises of the government proves the pro- 
priety of this post being efficiently kept up.) The 
chiefs called upon the people to assemble; but at this 
emergency an expression was made, justly depicting 
the feeling entertained by the people for them; many 
absolutely refused to budge a foot, asserting, as a 
reason, that as they kept all their money, they might 
likewise do all the fighting. They left, however, with 
about two hundred men; and it was not discovered, 
until after the expiration of two days, that the rwmors 
were false in every instance, and their origin could 
not be discovered. They had, however, a serious ef- 
fect in disturbing the quietude of the country, and 
many were and still continue to be alarmed for the 
safety of the frontier settlements. Nothing, however, 
has since happened to disturb the general harmony 
and peace of the nation, nor can there, in my opinion, 
be anything expected.’’—Letter of James Logan, Creek 
Agent to Maj. Wm. Armstrong, Report of Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs, 1845, pp. 517-19. 


APPENDIX XVIII—12. 
INTER-TRIBAL COUNCIL AT TAHLEQUAH. 


The council to which we were going was a grand 
convocation of all the tribes in the South-West, and 
many of the North. The Cherokees had sent the pipe 
and tobacco to all the Indian tribes on the frontier, 
to the number of thirty-six, inviting them to a friend- 


815 


ly conference. The Creeks had given a similar invita- 
tion the year previous, but with comparatively little 
success, 

Considerable interest was excited by the call, and 
no little speculation indulged as to the real design 
of the movement. Some attributed private and de- 
signing motives to the prominent Cherokees, and es- 
pecially to John Ross. The minds of others were 
excited with apprehension that there was about to be 
a hostile combination of the Indian tribes against the 
whites; and the department at Washington was ad- 
dressed on the subject. Nothing has ever transpired, 
however, to justify either imputation. No specific 
object was announced in the call. In general they 
proposed to become better acquainted, cultivate friend- 
ly relations, and make such international regulations 
as occasion might require. It seemed to be simply 
a great family-gathering of all the tribes to enjoy 
a season of festivity, and to renew the ancient bonds 
of friendship. 

The time appointed for assembling was the 5th of 
June [1843.] They had now, as our Delaware informed 
us, been assembling some eighteen days, and had only 
commenced their sessions a few days previous, expect- 
ing to remain a week or two longer. Some twenty- 
two tribes had responded, and their representatives 
were on the ground to a greater or less number. The 
whole number in attendance was estimated at three 
or four thousand, supported by the Cherokees at an 
expense of two hundred and fifty dollars per day. 
Among the absentees were the Camanches, who had 
so much fighting on hand that they had neither leisure 
nor inclination to smoke the pipe of peace; the Paw- 
nees also, who affected to suspect treacherous designs, 
and refused to attend unless upon condition that five 
men should be sent as hostages for the safe return 
of their delegates; the real reason being, as was sup- 
posed, the fear of meeting the Osages, with whom 
they had hostilities. I must not omit to mention our 
own people, the Choctaws, who, with their agent, stood 
aloof from the whole proceeding. * * *’——Goode’s 
“Outposts of Zion,’ op. cit., pp. 67-68. 


The Great Council. 


The site of the Cherokee Council-Ground is called 
Tah-le-quah; a name brought with them from their 
Eastern Home. A considerable village has since grown 
up, but at that time there were no improvements save 
the rude preparations for their annual council ses- 
sions. An area of perhaps three acres was enclosed. 
Upon the line of inclosure, and in rear of it, were 
about thirty cabins. Two of these, facing each other 
upon opposite sides of the square, were, on ordinary 
occasions, used by the two houses of the Legislative 
Council of the Cherokee Nation, which like that of 
the Choctaws consists of an upper and lower house. 
The remaining cabins were for the accommodation 
of members in attendance; and now all were appro- 
priated to the use of the delegated representatives 
of the several tribes. The multitudes of men, women, 
and children that had come together of their own 
accord to witness the proceedings and help to devour 
the beef, were spread abroad over the plains in the 
true Indian style, accommodating themselves, day 
and night, by a fire in the open air. 

The assemblage presented a motley appearance, ex- 
hibiting every age, phase, and condition of Indian life 
of both sexes. The costume of the Indian tribes is 
greatly varied, from the richest and most genteel 
style of their white neighbors to the rudest and 
simplest form of savage dress. Hence an Indian 
gathering presents a singular and fantastic commin- 
gling of the tastes of the white and the red man. The 
most common male dress of the half-civilized is a 
calico hunting-shirt. Some wear pantaloons, some 
leggins; some with hats, some caps, some bareheaded; 
but more still with a handkerchief or shawl tied 
around the head in the form of a turban; some with 
boots and shoes, some moccasins, and many bare- 
footed—males and females fantastically ornamented, 
especially about the head; some with rich plumes, 
some with more common, and many with the single 
quill of a fowl. Almost every one is distinguished 
by some article of display; the ears and noses espe- 
cially of the ruder tribes, variously and profusely 
ornamented, and their faces, arms, and bodies painted 
according to the custom of their several tribes. They 
have a great passion for gay colors, especially for 


816 


red. Sashes, shawls, and handkerchiefs are in great 
demand. Many very rich red blankets are used among 
them. The article of our apparel which they seem 
most to abominate is the hat or bonnet. Although 
compelled, when full-dressed, to conform to the usage 
of the whites in this respect, yet all, especially the 
females, seem greatly relieved when they can doff 
the head-dress, and, in their own free and easy style, 
substitute a kerchief or shawl in its place. The dress 
of the Cherokees approaches more nearly to the white 
costume than that of most of the other tribes. 

Among the persons first pointed out to me were 
Ross, the present Head-Chief, and candidate for re- 
election, and Vann, the opposing candidate, sitting in 
friendly conversation. The men were leisurely smok- 
ing their pipes, and engaged in low tones of conversa- 
tion; the women were employed in beating the corn, 
and other labors of the camp. Indians are rarely in 
a hurry; time is of no value to them. Two weeks 
passed, after the day set for the opening, before the 
first “talk.” They seemed quite as contented upon 
their beef rations alone as our legislative savans do 
with their per diem and “roast-beef.” 

About eleven o’clock the horn was blown as a signal 
for assembling, but no attention was paid to the sum- 
mons; the smoking, talking, and lounging went on as 
before. About three in the afternoon another signal 
was given, and they slowly assembled and prepared 
themselves for business. 

No formality was observed in the opening. A large, 
well-roofed shed stood in the center of the ground, 
under which the services were held. <A stand, or 
rostrum, was placed on one side, which, however, was 
not occupied by the speakers, who seemed to prefer 
a place on the ground. In front of the stand was a 
table covered with wampum and the great pipes used 
on special occasions. The seats were rude benches, 
placed with one end toward the table, and extending 
out like the radii of a semicircle. The several dele- 
gations were arranged upon separate seats, the Dela- 
wares taking precedence. The speaker occupied a 
central position at the table, and the interpreter for 
each tribe stood at the head of his delegation. 

Eighteen tribes were represented by properly- 
authorized delegations. In some instance two or three, 
or even four, tribes spoke the same language with 
such slight differences as to understand the same 
interpreter. There were eight interpreters, one of 
whom spoke two languages, and acted for two differ- 
ent tribes. The process of speech-making was ex- 
ceedingly slow. The speaker gave his address sentence 
by sentence, in his own language. At the close of 
each sentence or clause he paused, and his own inter- 
preter rendered the words into English, the only 
medium common to all. The several interpreters 
then, in turn, repeated them, each to his delegation 
in their own language; upon which the delegation 
responded with the hearty grunt peculiar to Indians 
—as if ta say, “We hear you’; or, ‘‘We understand 
your words.” Each waited for the others with deli- 
berate slowness. The words being thus repeated nine 
times after their rendering into English, afforded 
ample time for taking notes, even without the aid of 
stenography. I took down several of the speeches, 
which may serve to give a specimen of Indian oratory 
in modern times.—Ibid, pp. 69-71. 


Principal Characters Present At The Council. 


John Ross, now and, for many years past, the Head- 
Chief of the Cherokee Nation, was, in point of talents 
and acquirements, the first man present. He is a 
small, active man, apparently then fifty years of age; 
said to be one-eighth Cherokee, but with little or no 
appearance of the Indian; much such a man in appear- 
ance as Martin Van Buren, only a size smaller; quite 
equal, I should think, in mental caliber and business 
tact, to the average of our Congressmen. Ross oc- 
cupies about the same standing among his people as 
Colonel Pitchlynn among the Choctaws, though Pitch- 
lynn is more of an Indian, 

Lowry, the second chief of the Cherokees, was an 
aged and venerable-looking man; neat, though plain, 
in his person; grave and sedate in his demeanor; a 
communicant, I believe, in the Presbyterian Church, 
and perhaps an elder. I think I have since seen a 
notice of his death. I suppose him to have been a 
pious man, and useful in his tribe. 

Bushy-Head, a Cherokee, was the Chief Justice of 


APPENDIX 


the Nation, their interpreter, and also a Baptist 
preacher. He was a large, robust man, having much 
the appearance of a well-fed Ohio farmer, with ap- 
parently no more of the Indian about him than Ross, 
He interpreted fluently, was a man of reputable tal- 
ents, and was said to possess great influence in his — 
Nation. He also, I think, is since deceased. 

General Roly M’Intosh, Head-Chief of the Creek 
Nation; in appearance a full-blood, and unable to 
speak English; apparently forty-five years of age, 
rather below the medium stature, thoughtful and ex- 
pressive countenance, eyes somewhat peculiarly set; 
and whole contowr indicative of honesty, foresight, 
and great firmness and decision of character. He was — 
of a family of note among the Creeks, and possessed 
almost unlimited influence in his tribe. I must say 
that I was prepossessed in his favor, nothwithstand- © 
ing his alleged fixed hostility to missionary effort. 

Wild Cat, the Seminole warrior, so conspicuous for | 
the part he acted in the Florida War, and the trouble — 
which he and his band gave to the United States 
troops. He was, I should think, about twenty-five © 
years of age, five feet ten inches in height, sprightly © 
countenance, light and graceful step, and possessinaay 
every mark of energy and vigor of character. He 
bore on his person a greater amount of silver orna- — 
ment than any one present; broad silver bands upon > 
his forehead and wrists, a string of silver plates, each 
in the form of a crescent, about eight inches in the 
curve, and one and a half broad, suspended one below 
another from the neck almost to the waist, besides © 
a large profusion of smaller ornaments. He walked 
as if he disdained the earth on which he trod. He, 
I think, is since dead also. 

Wau-bon-sa, a Pottawatomie Chief, said to be 
eighty-seven years of age; treated with great re- 
spect by those of his tribe present; complete Indian 
costume, with the skin of a crow split in the middle, — 
through which his head was thrust, covering his shoul- — 
ders and back, and the tail hanging down before. 4 

Shin-ga-was-sa—if I recollect the name correctly— — 
an Osage brave; large, fleshy, good-humored, and, 
like the rest of his tribe, an incessant talker and 
boaster.—Ibid, pp. 72-73. + 


The Great Council—Men Of Note—Indian Oratory. - 


The first speaker, after my arrival, was Ross. His © 
talk was delivered by him in English, from a manu- — 
script held in his hand. The following is nearly a 
verbatim report of his address: % 

“Brothers, the talk of our fathers has been spoken, ~ 
and you have listened to it. You have also smoked “7 
the pipe of peace, and taken the hand of friendship © 
around the council fire newly kindled here at Tah-le- — 
quah in the West. We have been made glad on this © 
interesting occasion. a4 

“Brothers, when we look back to the history of our © 
race we see some green spots that are pleasing to us. — 
We also see many things to make our hearts sad. — 
When we look back on the days when the first council-_ 
fires were kindled, around which the pipe of peace 
was smoked, we are grateful to our Creator for hav- — 
ing united the hearts of the red men in peace; for 
it is in peace only that our women and children can 
enjoy happiness and increase in numbers. By peace - 
our condition has been improved in the pursuits of 
civilized life. We should, therefore, extend the hand — 
of peace from tribe to tribe, till peace is established — 
between every nation of red men within the reach — 
of our voice. + 

“Brothers, when we call to mind the early asso- — 
ciations which endeared us to the land that gave © 
birth to our forefathers, where we were brought up ~ 
in peace to taste the blessings of civilized life; when ~ 
we see that our fires have there been extinguished, 
and our families been removed to a new and distant 
home, we cannot but feel sorry. But the designs of — 
Providence are mysterious; and we should not, there- — 
fore, despair of once more enjoying the blessings of 
peace in our new home. 

“Brothers, by this removal tribes hitherto distant 
from each other have become neighbors, and those © 
hitherto unacquainted have become known to each 
other. There are, however, numerous other tribes 
with whom we are still strangers. ie 

“Brothers, it is for renewing in the West the ancient 
talk of our forefathers, and of perpetuating forever the © 
old pipe of peace, and of extending them from nation ~ 


ee 


4234, 


\” 
f 
YI 
” 


APPENDIX 


to nation, and of adopting such international laws as 
may redress the wrongs done by the people of our 
respective nations to each other, that you have been 
invited to attend the present Council. Let us, there- 
fore, so act that the peace which existed between 
our forefathers may be pursued, and that we may 
always live as members of the same family. 

“Brothers, the business of the Council is now be- 
fore you, and I hope you will persevere till it is 
finished.” 

Ross was followed by the Creek Chief, Roly M’In- 
tosh. This talk was delivered in his own language, 
and rendered by his nephew into English; then given 
by the different interpreters to their respective tribes. 
This speech, doubtless, suffers by translation into Eng- 
lish; yet it will be seen to have some beauties. He 
spoke with much earnestness and apparent feeling 
about as follows: 

“Friends and brothers, we are all assembled here 
under this roof. I am going to speak a few words. 

“Brothers, we are met together to renew our fore- 
fathers’ talk. It was made in the East. It has been 
brought to the West. Yet every day we assemble 
here we attend to it as well as we know how. 

“Brothers, our fires are all behind. They were first 
kindled in the East; but now we have been driven 
to the West, and have renewed our fires. 

“Brothers, we are now in the West. We are trying 
to make the path of our forefathers, that it may 
extend from one door to the other; that it may be a 
white path; that it may be kept clean; that our ris- 
ing generation may walk in the paths of peace. 

“Brothers, you are met together to make such inter- 
national laws that you may raise your children in 
peace. We and our brethren, the Cherokees, have 
made these broken days (so the Creeks called Council 
times) for this Council, and we have come for the 
purpose of seeing that the talk of our forefathers be 
renewed. 

“Brothers, I dont Know how many tribes there are 
in the North. We have sent the wampum to them 
that they may come in and walk in the paths of peace. 
I am willing, also, to extend my hand to the tribes 
of the South, and take them by the hand, and invite 
them in, and extend to them our fires, that they may 
kindle their lights and walk in the paths of peace. 

“Brothers, I am now going to part with you. I 
hope you will not think hard of me. It has been 
the custom of the Creeks to renew our fires every 
year, [alluding to the time having arrived for the 
sitting of their own National Council.] We have al- 
ready staid longer than we expected. Some of our 
men have already gone home. We leave some chiefs 
to represent our Nation, and whatever may be deter- 
mined, we will coincide with you when the instru- 
ment of writing containing it shall be presented to 
us.’ ” 

The main points embraced in both these speeches 
are the same—their lingering love for their former 
homes, respect for their ancestry, a cautiously-ex- 
pressed sense of the injustice done them by their re- 
moval, a reluctant resignation to their fate, and a 
desire to cultivate the arts of peace and to provide 
for their offspring. The reader will not fail to see 
that the former of these addresses is the speech of 
One who is virtually a white man, though affectedly 
in the Indian style, while in the latter he will rec- 
Ognize all the characteristics of the true Indian. If 
his taste be like mine, he will not hestitate which 
most to admire. An elegant touch of Indian pathos 
is contained in the expression of M’Intosh, “Our fires 
are all behind.” 

These were followed by one from a young Chicka- 
saw, in which, on behalf of his fellow-delegates pres- 
ent, he took leave of the Council, assigning as a rea- 
son for their departure the unexpected failure of the 
Head-Chief, and others of the delegation, to attend, 
their own want of instructions and consequent lack 
of authority to do anything that would be binding 
upon their Nation, illustrating his remarks by refer- 
ence to some of their peculiar national customs in 
their diplomatic intercourse, and expressing his hearty 
approval of the object of the Council. He spoke in 
English, was modest and apparently educated, and 
spoke with chasteness and fluency. These three 
speeches, by this slow process, occupied the time till 
sunset. After a public request that the following day 
—the Sabbath—should be employed by the ministers 


Okla—52 


817 


present in religious services, they dispersed as un- 
ceremoniously as they had assembled.—lIbid., pp. 73-76. 


Compact Between The Several Tribes Of Indians. 


WHEREAS, the removal of the Indian Tribes, from 
the homes of their fathers, east of the Mississippi, has 
there extinguished our ancient Council Fires, and 
changed our position in regard to each other, and 

WHEREAS, by the solemn pledge of Treaties, we are 
assured by the Government of the United States, that 
the lands we now possess shall be the undisturbed 
pene of ourselves and our posterity forever, there- 
ore, 

We, the authorized representatives of the several 
Nations, parties hereunto, assembled round the Great 
Council «Fire, kindled in the West at Tahlequah; in 
order to preserve the existence of our race, to revive 
and cultivate just and friendly relations between our 
several communities, to secure to all their respective 
rights, and to promote the general welfare, do enter 
into the following compact. 

Sec. Ist. Peace and friendship shall forever be main- 
tained between the Nations, parties to this compact, 
and between their citizens: 

Sec. 2d. Revenge shall not be cherished nor retalia- 
tion practiced, for offences committed by individuals. 

Sec. 8d. To provide for the improvement of our peo- 
ple in Agriculture, Manufactures, and other domestic 
arts, adapted to promote the comfort and happiness 


‘of our women and children a fixed and permanent 


location on our lands, is an indispensable condition. 
In order therefore, to secure these important objects, 
to prevent any future removal, and to transmit to 
our posterity an unimpaired title to the lands guar- 
anteed to our respective Nations by the United States 
—We hereby solemnly pledge ourselves to each other, 
that no Nation, party to this compact, shall, without 
the consent of all the other parties, cede, or in any 
manner alienate, to the United States, any part of 
their present Territory. 

Sec. 4th. If a citizen of one Nation, commits wilful 
murder, or other crime, within the limits of another 
Nation, party hereto, he shall be subject to the same 
treatment as if he were a citizen of that Nation. 

In cases of property stolen, or taken by force or 
fraud, the property, if found, shall be restored to the 
owner; but if not found, the convicted person shall 
pay the full value thereof. 

Sec. 5th. If a citizen of any Nation, party to this 
compact, shall commit murder or other crime, and flee 
from justice, into the territory of any other Nation, 
party hereto, such criminal shall, on demand of the 
Principal Chief of the Nation from which he fled, 
(accompanied with reasonable proof of his guilt,) be 
delivered up to the authorities of the Nation having 
jurisdiction of the crime. 

Sec. 6th. We hereby further agree, that if any one 
of our respective citizens shall commit murder or 
other crime, upon the person of any other citizen, in 
any place beyond the limits of our several territories, 
the person so offending, shall be subject to the same 
treatment as if the offence had been committed within 
the limits of his Nation. 

Sec. 7th. Any citizen of one Nation may be admitted 
to citizenship in any other Nation, party hereto, by 
consent of the proper authorities of such Nation. 

Sec. 8th. The use of Ardent Spirits, being a fruit- 
ful source of crime and misfortune, we recommend 
its suppression within our respective limits, and agree 
that no citizen of one Nation, shall introduce it into 
the territory of any other Nation, party to this com- 
pact. 

Done in General Council, around the GREAT COUN- 
CIL FIRE, at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, this the 
3d day of July, 1843. 


REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHEROKEES. 


Hair Conrad, his x mark, 

Samuel Downing, his x mark, 
Turtle Fields, his x mark, 

Stop, his x mark, Thomas Foreman, 
Tobacco Will, his x mark, 

Thomas Woodward, his x mark, 
Dutch, his x mark, 

Michael Waters, 

John Looney, his x mark, 

George Lowrey, 


818 APPENDIX 
J. Vann, lished in their ancient rights and locations in that 
Archibald Campbell, his x mark, country. They invariably said: ‘No; by no means, 


Old Field, his x mark, 
Charles Coodey, 


REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CREEKS. 


Tus-ta-nug-gee Mathla, his x mark, 
In-ther-nis Harjo, his x mark, 
Ho-ler-ter Micco, his x mark, 
Ho-tul-ca Harjo, his x mark, 
Ufalar Harjo, his x mark, 

Chilly McIntosh, 

Dak-cun Harjo, his x mark. 


REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OSAGHS. 


Alexander Chouteau, Osage Int. 

Chin-ka-wa-sah or Belvazo, his x mark, u 

Black Dog, his x mark, 

Gron-san-tah, his x mark, 

Gra-tam-e-sah, his x mark. : 

BE IT KNOWN, that the National Council of the 
Cherokee Nation, in Annual Council convened, have 
this day approved and confirmed the within articles 
of a compact.entered into the day and date therein 
named, by the authorized Representatives of the Na- 
tions, parties thereunto. 

Done in National Council at Tahlequah, Cherokee 
Nation, the second day of November, A. D., One Thou- 
sand Hight Hundred and Forty-Three. 

CHARLES COODEY, 
President, Nat. Com. 
JAMES M. PAYNE, 
Speaker, Nat. Council. 
Approved—JNO. ROSS. 
—Laws of the Cherokee Nation, 1839-51, pp. 87-89. 


APPENDIX XIX—1. 
LETTER OF JOHN RIDGE. 


South Lee, Berkshire County, Mass., 


May 7th, 1838. 
My Dear Friend:— 

While I was in New York, I received your kind let- 
ter of the 25th ult., in answer to mine, for which I am 
greatly indebted to you. It was my desire to have 
visited Washington, in order to have had the pleasure 
of a personal interview with you, and also to have 
seen the result of the great Indian bill, now in a 
course of discussion in the Senate. But the period I 
have set apart to return to my country is the first of 
June, and I have but a short time to spend amongst 
my wife’s relations. I did not write as fully as the 
interesting subject of Cherokee removal and the na- 
ture of the country demanded, as I then believed that 
I should see you. 

Now, you will allow me to relate my opinion of our 
country in the West, and the situation of our people. 
The Treaty is so liberal in its provisions for the com- 
fortable removal of the Cherokees that I have heard 
no complaint on that head, but the highest satisfac- 
tion. Those who went by water, in steamboats, in the 
spring of the year, passed with so much dispatch that 
most of them planted corn and raised considerable 
crops. You know that good and exemplary Christian, 
Mr. Charles Moore. He said that he planted in the 
month of June and raised a greater crop of beans, 
pumpkins and corn than he ever did in Georgia, under 
the most favorable circumstances. _He said that the 
land in the West was so rich that he could compare it 
to nothing else but a fattened hog, which was so fat 
that he could not get up. I have traveled extensively 
in that country—once, from my residence, near the 
corner of Missouri and Arkansas, to Fort Smith, 
through Flint District, where I had the pleasure of 
beholding fine springs of water, excellent farms and 
comfortable houses, and mills, and mission schools, 
belonging to the Cherokees; and every evidence of 
prosperity and happiness was to be seen among the 
Cherokees as a people. I saw a number who had pre- 
viously arrived, and had arrived since I had, and I 
heard one sentiment—that they were happy and con- 
tented in their new country. Indeed, the soil is ex- 
ceedingly rich and well timbered, and the navigation 
of the Arkansas River affords them superior commer- 
cial advantages to what they enjoyed in the Hast. I 
joked with the people, and asked them if they wished 
to return to Georgia, even if they could be reéstab- 


Nothing would induce them to return.” But they sin- 
cerely wished that the eyes of their countrymen might 
be opened, and break from the delusions of John Ross 
and his political tools and escape to this good land. 
I think in this direction I traveled over eighty-eight 
miles, in a straight direction. After this, I visited 
the newly acquired land, called Neutral Ground, 
which was added to our country, west, by the Treaty 
of New Echota. I rode over it, about two days, and 
I there found Mr. Joseph Rogers, our Cherokee friend, 
from Chattahoochee, pleasantly situated in the finest 
region of country, I ever beheld in any part of the 
United States. 

The streams here of all sizes, from the rivers to 
brooks, run swiftly over clean stones and pebbles, 
and the water is clear as crystal, in which excellent 
fish abound in vast numbers. The soil is diversified 
from the best prairie lands to the best bottom lands, 
in vast tracts. Never did I see a better location for 
settlements and better springs in the world. God has 
thrown His favors here with a broad cast. In this 
region are numerous mills, and it is of itself capable 
of supporting a larger population than the whole 
Cherokee Nation, East. On my return, I traveled to- 
ward Fort Gibson, seventy-five miles in another direc- 
tion, and I found the richness of the soil and natural 
advantages far superior to any country which I had 
seen in all my travel. In this trip I visited Park Hill 
Mission, where the Rev. Mr. Worcester and Mr. Bou- 
dinot are located, and are engaged in the translation 
and publication of useful religious books in the Cher- 
okee language, and also Choctaw books, prepared by 
the Choctaw missionaries. 

But what pleased me more, and was a new thing 
here in this country, those gentlemen had published 
a Christian almanac, in Cherokee and English, calcu- 
lated for the meridian of Fort Gibson. I found this 
extensively in circulation amongst the Cherokees, and, 
in fact, I was pleased to find that religious tracts, in 
the Indian language, were on the shelves of full- 
blooded Cherokees, and every one knew and seemed to 
love the messenger, as they call Mr. Worcester. I 
very often met with new emigrants from the Eastern 
Nation, either arriving or settling the country, or on 
their way to Fort Gibson, to draw the balance of their 
dues for their lands and improvements. These new- 
comers were formerly of opposite portion in the old 
nation. There was no disposition to quarrel, but every 
disposition manifested to cultivate friendship and re- 
joice together in the possession of this fine country. 

I had the pleasure of being introduced to Gen. Ar- 
buckle, commanding at Fort Gibson, and I found him 
to be an excellent man, of fine personal appearance, 
and intelligent. He informed me that the country 
next to the Osages, on the Verdigris, was the best 
in the country, and was yet unsettled; so you per- 
ceive that I am greatly pleased with our new country. 
Most all the intelligent men of our nation, our Su- 
preme Judges, and Sheriffs, and Marshalls, our Legis- 
lators, and our National Treasurer, are, you are aware, 
already removed, and are engaged in building of 
houses, and the opening of farms. Many of the Cher- 
okees have turned their attention to merchandising, 
and some have supplied themselves with goods from 
New Orleans and New York, besides other places 
more convenient to the nation. 

Many of the Christian Cherokees are engaged in 
the organization of schools and temperance societies, 
and there is no danger, as some supposed, that the 
Cherokees would retrograde and turn to the chase, 
instead of the pursuits of civilization. And I have 
the pleasure also of informing you that the utmost 
friendship and tranquility prevails between the Indi- 
ans and the citizens of the United States, not only 
those who live at the military stations, but those of 
your citizens who reside in Missouri and Arkansas, 
near the Cherokee Nation. 

In the best state of friendship they visit and trade 
together, on both sides of the line, to their mutual 
advantage. In addition to this, we have excellent 
saline springs, where salt is made by the Cherokees. 
I was told that Judge Martin was about to commence 
work at one of these salines. In regard to the health 
of the country I find it good, on the small waters, and 
it is only on the larger water courses that fever and 


/. 7 


i 


JOHN RIDGE, CHEROKEE LEADER, 
Assassinated in 1839 for signing the removal treaty 


- 

— a _ - 
oe = 
: 7 a al 


ae i >. 


APPENDIX 


ague prevails among new settlers. But it is some- 
what singular that whenever a Cherokee arrives in 
the country, wherever that may be, he cannot be 
induced to change his location for a better. He will 
either say there is no better, or that it is as good as 
he wants it to be. 

If the people of the United States could only see 
our condition in the West, they would no longer as- 
sist John Ross to delude the poor, ignorant portion of 
our people to remain in the Hast, where he can spec- 
ulate on their miseries. 

The Cherokee Government in the West is very much 
like it was in the old nation, before it was suppressed 
by the States. 

They have an Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, 
and trial by jury. 

I feel happy to ascertain that a majority of the 
Senate of the United States entertain such magnani- 
mous views towards the well being of the Indians’ in 
future, rerroved as they are from the State jurisdiction 
and conflict. With the rich advantages of the Chris- 
tian religion and cultivation, the Choctaws, Chero- 
kees, Chickasaws, Creeks and other nations are des- 
tined to become a great and mighty people in the 
great West. I am truly pleased to find that our 
neighbor, Senator Sevier, stands by your side in the 
great undertaking. That was a happy thought of his 
in calling the Indian Territory “Neosho.” It means, 
in the Osage language, the “Clear Waters.” 

I should be glad to receive the documents connected 
with that bill, and all the important speeches on the 
subject. 

While I was in New York, I found that the religious 
community were entirely bewildered by John Ross, 
and in the party slang of their papers. Instead of 
receiving the late Treaty as a blessing to the Chero- 
kees, and as a measure of relief to them, they consid- 
ered it the source of all their afflictions. I attempted 
to explain John Ross’s position in the papers; and 
many of them are now convinced that the Treaty and 
its friends are in the right; but a great many are 
still bewildered. They believe that John Ross is the 
nation, and, could he succeed in breaking the Treaty, 
that the whole of the Southern States would retire 
from their jurisdictional charters. 

I sometimes feel afraid that all is not right in these 
editors of newspapers. It would seem that they would 
be willing to have the Indians resist and shed blood 
and produce a Florida scene, in order to render their 
Government odious. 

They seem pleased to have money expended to sup- 
press Indian hostilities, and then blame the Govern- 
ment for the expenses. They well know that the 
Indians cannot exist in the States; and all they can 
possibly accomplish by their memorials is to assist 
John Ross to effect a Treaty, the character of which 
is buried in his breast. 

They all know that in the Bast the Cherokees have 
no government, and have had no elections for nine 
years past; and yet John Ross is, in their estimation, 
a constitutional chief over all the Cherokees, and if 
the President refuses to recognize this preposterous 
claim, and determine to see that all the Cherokees 
shall share alike from the avails of their land, then 
they proclaim him a monster, and John Ross the Cher- 
okee Christian. 

I shall remain here to the first of June, and I shall 
be obliged to you for another letter before I leave for 
the West. 

I am your friend, 
JOHN RIDGE. 

Gov. Wilson Lumpkin. 

—Wilson Lumpkin in ‘Removal of the Cherokee 
Indians from Georgia, 1827-1838,” Vol. II, pp. 201-05. 


APPENDIX XIX—2. 
AQUOHEE RESOLUTION. 


Aquohee Camp, August 1, 1838. 

Whereas, the title of the Cherokee people to their 
lands, is the most ancient, pure, and absolute known 
to man; its date is beyond the reach of human rec- 
ord; its validity confirmed and illustrated by posses- 
sion and enjoyment antecedent to all pretense of claim 
by any other portion of the human race: 

And whereas, the free consent of the Cherokee peo- 
ple is indispensable to a valid transfer of the Cherokee 


819 


title; and whereas, the said Cherokee people have 
neither of themselves, nor their representatives, given 
such consent; it follows that the original title and 
ownership of said lands still vest in the Cherokee 
Nation unimpaired and absolute: 

Resolved, therefore, By the national committee and 
council, and people of the Cherokee Nation, in gen- 
eral council assembled, That the whole Cherokee ter- 
ritory, as described in the first article of the Treaty 
of 1819, between the United States and the Cherokee 
Nation, still remains the rightful and undoubted prop- 
erty of the said Cherokee Nation. And that all dam- 
ages and losses, direct or incidental, resulting from the 
enforcement of the alleged stipulations of the pre- 
tended Treaty of New Echota, are in justice and 
equity chargeable to the account of the United States. 

And whereas, the Cherokee people have existed as 
a distinct national community, in the possession and 
exercise of the appropriate and essential attributes 
of sovereignty, for a period extending into antiquity 
beyond the dates and records and memory of man: 

And whereas, these attributes, with the rights and 
franchises which they involve, have never been relin- 
quished by the Cherokee people, but are now in full 
force and virtue. 

_And whereas, the natural, political, and moral rela- 
tions subsisting among the citizens of the Cherokee 
Nation towards each other, and towards the body 
politic, cannot in reason and justice be dissolved by 
the expulsion of the nation from its own territory by 
the power of the United States’ Government: 

Resolved, therefore, By the national committee and 
council, and people of th2 Cherokee Nation in general 
council assembled, That the inherent sovereignty of 
the Cherokee Nation, together with the constitution, 
laws, and usages of the same, is, and by the author- 
ity aforesaid, is hereby declared in full force and 
virtue, and shall continue so to be, in perpetuity, sub- 
ject to such modifications as the general welfare may 
render expedient. 

Resolved, further, That the Cherokee people, in con- 
senting to an investigation of their individual claims, 
and receiving payment upon them, and for their 
improvements, do not intend that it shall be so con- 
strued as yielding or giving their sanction or ap- 
proval to the pretended Treaty of 1835; nor as com- 
promitting, in any manner, their just claim against 
the United States hereafter, for a full and satisfactory 
indemnification for their country, and for all individual 
losses and injuries. 

And be it further Resolved, That the principal chief 
be, and he is hereby authorized to select and appoint 
such persons as he may deem necessary and suitable 
for the ptrpose of collecting and registering all 
individual claims against the United States, with the 
proofs, and to report to him their proceedings as they 
progress. RICHARD TAYLOR, 

President National Committee. 
GOING SNAKE, 
Speaker of Council. 
STEPHEN FOREMAN, Clerk Nat. Committee. 
Captain Brown, 
Toonowee, 
Katelah, 
Ooyah Kee, 
Richard Foreman, 
William, 
Howestee, 
Beaver Carrier, 
Samuel Christee, 
Kotaquaskee, 
Yoh-natsee, 
Samuel Foreman. 
Signed by a Committee in behalf of the people. 

—Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, accom- 
panying the Report of the Secretary of War for 1839, 
pp. 417-18. 

APPENDIX XIX—3. 


BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES OF THE RIDGES AND 
BOUDINOT. 


That the killing of the Ridges, father and son, and 
of Boudinot was the result of a carefully laid conspir- 
acy, is fairly evidenced by the fact that they were 
killed within a few hours, though many miles distant 
from each other. Before daylight on Saturday morn- 


620 


ing, June 22, John Ridge was called to the door of his 
home near the eastern boundary of present Delaware 
County and killed. A few hours later, Major Ridge 
was shot from ambush as he traveled along the road 
to Fort Smith, at a spot some twenty-five or thirty 
miles from the home of his son. At nearly the same 
time, about seventy-five miles away, Boudinot was 
killed near his home at Park Hill and within two miles 
of the home of John Ross. 

Major Ridge was a full-blood Cherokee of the Deer 
Clan, born near Hiwassee, Georgia, about 1771. He 
was said to have joined a war party on an expedition 
against the white settlements when he was only 
fourteen years old. At the age of twenty-one he was 
a member of the Cherokee National Council. His 
Cherokee name was Gu-nun-da-le-gi, which signifies 
“he who follows the ridge.’ When he adopted the 
ways of civilization, he chose the name of Ridge as a 
partial translation of his Indian name. During the 
War of 1812 he was active in his support of the Amer- 
icans and was largely instrumental in the recruiting 
of a regiment of Cherokees which served under Gen- 
eral Jackson in the Creek War. It was because of his 
service as an officer of that regiment that he was 
ever after known as Major Ridge. 

John Ridge, son of Major Ridge, was born in Georgia 
about the year 1801. His education was begun in the 
schools conducted by the Moravian missionaries and 
was continued in an academy at Knoxville, Tennes- 
see. In 1818, at the instance of the American Board of 
Commissioners of Foreign Missions, he was Selected 
with two other Cherokee youths to attend the mission 
school at Cornwall, Connecticut. While he was there 
as a student he became acquainted with Miss Sarah B. 
Northrop, whom he afterward married. He was a tal- 
ented man, of strong personality and winning address; 
so pronounced was his persuasive eloquence that it is 
said that those who plotted his death especially 
charged his assassins to allow no words of parley 
with him lest he dissuade them from their fell purpose. 

John Ridge left several children and a number of 
his descendants still live in Oklahoma and others in 
California. One of his sons, John Rollin Ridge, born 
in 1826, went to California in 1851, and made his home 
there until his death in 1867. He gained distinction 
as a writer of verse, his literary productions evidenc- 
ing a true poetic mind as well as a remarkable per- 
sonality. A volume of his verse was published in 
1868. (For an account of his life, see “John Rollin 
Ridge,” by Edward Everett Dale, in Chronicles of 
Oklahoma, Oklahoma Historical Society publication, 
Vol. IV, No. 4, December, 1926.) 

Elias Boudinot, a nephew of Major Ridge, was born 
in Georgia in the year 1802. His Cherokee name was 
Ga-la-gi-na, which meant “buck deer.” The name of 
his father (a brother of Major Ridge) was Oowatie, 
the son being called Buck Watie. Stand Watie was a 
younger brother. In 1818 Buck Watie entered the mis- 
sion school at Cornwall, Connecticut, where he adopted 
the name of the noted publicist and philanthropist, 
Elias Boudinot, who was his patron. In collaboration 
with Rev. S. A. Worcester, he began the translation of 
the New Testament into the Cherokee language in 
1823. Under the direction of the Cherokee National 
Council he began the publication of the Cherokee 
“Phoenix” in 1827, which was the forerunner of the 
Cherokee ‘‘Advocate” of a later period. In 1838 he 
wrote a book entitled “Poor Sarah, or the Indian 
Woman,” which was published in the Cherokee lan- 
guage. A second edition of this book was printed at 
Park Hill in 1843. Being a man of marked ability, 
he exerted great influence among his people until he 
espoused the cause of the unpopular Treaty Party in 
support of the plan to sell the tribal domain and move 
to the Indian Territory. This made him very unpop- 
ular with the vindictive partisans of the oppositions 
and ultimately led to his assassination. He was not 
a full-blood Indian, his maternal grandfather having 
been a white man. 

Elias Boudinot married Miss Harriet Gold, of Corn- 
wall, Connecticut, by whom he had several children. 
His son, Elias Cornelius Boudinot, was one of the 
prominent Cherokees of the next generation, while 
another son, William P. Boudinot, was scarcely less 
gifted. The Boudinot family is still a prominent one 
in the Cherokee country. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XIX—4. 
AMNESTY DECREE. 


Whereas, the removal of the eastern Cherokees to 
this country has brought together the two branches 
of the ancient Cherokee family, and rendered it ex- 
pedient that a union of the two communities should be 
formed, and a system of government matured and es- 
tablished, applicable to their present condition and 
satisfactory to all parties. And whereas, a general 
council of the representatives and people of both com- 
munities was appointed for that purpose by the joint 
call of their respective authorities, which met accord- 
ee at Ta-ka-to-ka, on Monday the 8d day of June, 

And whereas, the representative branches of said 
general council having been unsuccessful in effecting 
the objects for which the general council was con- 
vened, the people, who formed a constituent branch of 
said general council, called a national convention of 
the people of the eastern and western Cherokees to 
meet at Illinois camp ground, July 1, 1839, to take 
those important matters into consideration: which 
convention has assembled accordingly, and is now in 
session: 

And whereas, in the interval between the call and 
the meeting of this national convention, the unhappy 
fact of Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot’s 
being killed occurred. In consequence of which, vio- 
lent threats against the lives of innocent and peace- 
able citizens were made by some of the friends of the 
deceased, by which the tranquility of the community 
has been interrupted, and a state of excitement and 
alarm produced, dangerous to the public safety and 
destructive to domestic and social order: 

And whereas, the unfortunate persons deceased, to- 
gether with others in connection with them, had by 
their acts unhappily exposed and laid themselves lia- 
ble to the pains and penalties and forfeitures of 
outlawry: 

Therefore, in order to stop the further effusion of 
blood to claim [calm] the present unhappy excitement, 
and to restore peace and harmony and confidence to 
the community, we, the people of the eastern and 
western Cherokees in general council assembled, in 
our own name, and by the authority and in the exer- 
cise of our plenary powers, do ordain and decree; and 
by these presents it is ordained and decreed accord- 
ingly; that a full and free pardon and amnesty be, 
and is hereby granted to all those persons who are 
liable, as aforesaid, to the pains and penalties and for- 
feitures of outlawry, and that they be fully exempted, 
released, and discharged from all liability to prosecu- 
tion or punishment of any kind whatever, on the afore- 
said account. And that they be restored to the protec- 
tion of the community, and the enjoyment of the 
benefits of the laws, to all intents and purposes, as 
if the acts which rendered them liable to the penalties 
aforesaid, had not been committed—excepting, that 
they shall not be eligible to any office of profit, trust, 
or honor, in the eastern and western Cherokee com- 
munity, or under any union or other modification of 
said communities which may be effected. 

Nevertheless, the general council shall have the 
power, after the lapse of five years, if in their opinion 
the good conduct of any person or persons affected by 
this decree shall render it proper, to revoke, with 
regard to such person or persons, that portion thereof 
which declares them ineligible to office, and thereby 
restore them to the enjoyment and exercise of all the 
immunities and franchises of the community; pro- 
vided, however, that in order to guard the public 
peace and the personal security of the citizens from 
being endangered by the operation of this decree, the 
benefits of its provisions shall be available to those 
persons only, who shall within eight days* after the 


* Note—Ordered by the Cherokee people in general 
convention assembled, that inasmuch as information 
concerning the decree of amnesty passed on the 7th 
inst., had not reached some of the persons affected by 
its provisions; that the time specified for their giving 
assurances for the.future maintenance of peace be 
extended until further provisions shall be made by 
the convention for that purpose. The intention of the 


A fa EN! 


——. 


Sle a a th Pore Aah 


Pie lial 


w- 


oe a ee eee 


ee ee 


yy. “iw 


APPENDIX 


passage of this decree (appear) before the general 
council, and shall retract or disavow any threatenings 
which may have been made by themselves or their 
friends against the life or lives of any citizen or cit- 
izens of the eastern or western Cherokee nation, or 
against that of any other person in revenge or as 
retaliation for the death of the unfortunate persons 
deceased, or for any other cause, and shall give satis- 
factory assurances that for the time to come they will 
demean themselves as good and peaceable members of 
the community. That in order effectually to carry 
out the intentions of this decree, to suppress distur- 
bances, to remove public nuisances, and to preserve 
good order and tranquillity, eight auxiliary police 
companies shall be organized throughout the country 
by voluntary associations; each company to be com- 
manded by a captain and lieutenant and such subordi- 
nate officers as may be required, who shall be elected 
by the people, any of whom may also be removed by 
the people whenever they deem it expedient. The 
whole of these companies to be under the general 
command of Jesse Bushyhead, 1st, and Looney Price, 
2d, in command: provided always, that the general 
council shall have the power by law to control, mod- 
ify, suspend, or discontinue, these police companies as 
the welfare or safety of the country may require. 

Given under our hands at Illinois camp ground, the 
7th day of July, 1839. By order and on behalf of this 
general council of the eastern and western Cherokees 
in national convention assembled. 

Numerously signed by the people in convention, 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ac- 
companying the Report of the Secretary of War for 
1839, pp. 391-92. 


APPENDIX XIX—5. 
ACCEPTANCE PLEDGE. 


Whereas, by a decree of the general council of the 
eastern and western Cherokees in national convention 
assembled, at Illinois camp, July 7th, 1839: It is pro- 
vided, that a full and free pardon and amnesty be 
granted to certain persons, who, by their acts, had 
exposed and laid themselves liable to the pains and 
penalties of outlawry; and that they be fully exempted, 
released, and discharged from all liability to prosecu- 
tion or punishment, of any kind whatever, on the 
aforesaid account; and that they be restored to the 
protection of the community, and to the enjoyment 
of the benefits of the laws. Provided, however, that 
the benefits of this decree shall be available to those 
persons only who shall retract or disavow any threat- 
enings which may have been made by themselves or 
their friends against the life or lives of any citizen or 
citizens of the eastern or western Cherokee nation, or 
that of any other person or persons, in revenge for 
the death of Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Bou- 
dinot; and shall give satisfactory assurances that for 
the time to come they will demean themselves as 
good and peaceable citizens of the community. 

Now we, the undersigned, gratefully accepting the 
elemency of our people, humanely provided for our 
benefit and relief, do, in the presence of the Supreme 
Judge and Searcher of all hearts, and in the presence 
of this great assembly, hereby sincerely acknowledge 
our error, and express our deep contrition for the 
same; and we do declare our readiness to submit to 
our people, and to make all the reparation in our 
power for the injury we have done; and we do hereby 
recall and retract any threatenings which may have 
been made by ourselves or any of our friends against 
the life of any person whatever, and we do disavow 
any such threats made by any of our friends in re- 
venge or retaliation for the death of the persons afore- 
said, or for any other cause; and in conformity with 
the requirements of the ordinance and decree afore- 
said, we do, in the presence of the Supreme Judge, and 
of this general council, solemnly pledge ourselves to 
abstain from all acts which may in any way or man- 


said decree being solely to obtain assurances for the 
preservation of peace, and not to endanger the safety 
of any person whatsoever. 

Given under our hands, by order of the General Con- 
vention, this 13th day of July, 1839. 

True copy. Ss. G. SIMMONS, A. D. C., 
and A, A. Adjt. Gen., 2d Dept., W. Div. 


821 


ner disturb the peace and endanger the security of 
the community or of any individual thereof. But 
that, for the time to come, we will sacredly regard 
these our solemn assurances, and in good faith de- 
mean (ourselves) as good and peaceable citizens, in 
fulfillment of the obligations involved in this pledge, 
and in the true intentions of the ordinance and decree. 
Given under our hands, at Illinois camp ground, in 
the presence of the national convention, this 10th day 
of July, 1839. GEORGE CHAMBERS, his x mark 
JESSE HALFBREED, his x mark 
TH-KA-E-SHE, his x mark 
WM. H. DAVIS, 
TAH-YE-SKE, 
JAMES FOSTER, 
CHARLES FORMAN. 
Witness: 


DANIEL MC COY, 
R..TAY LOR, 
GEO. LOWRY, 
JESSE BUSHYHBEAD. 
—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ac- 
companying the Report of the Secretary of War for 
1839, pp. 392-93. 


his x mark 


APPENDIX XIX—6, 
DECREE OF OBLIVION. 


Know all men by these presents, that, in order to 
stop the further effusion of blood, to calm the present 
unhappy excitement, and to restore peace and harmony 
and confidence to the community, we, the people of the 
eastern and western Cherokees in national convention 
assembled, in our own name, and by the authority 
and in the exercise of our plenary powers do ordain 
and decree, and by these presents it is ordained and 
decreed accordingly, that a full and free pardon and 
amnesty be and is hereby granted all persons, citizens 
of the eastern and western Cherokee nation, who may 
be chargeakle with the act of murder or homicide, com- 
mitted on the person of any Cherokee previously to 
the passage of this decre=; whether the same may have 
been committed within the limits of the eastern or 
western Cherokee country or elsewhere. And by the 
authority aforesaid, we do further ordain and decree, 
that all persons so chargeable are, and by these pres- 
ents are declared to be, fully exempted, released, and 
discharged from all liability to prosecution, punish- 
ment, or disabilities of any kind what ever, on the 
aforesaid account; and that they be restored to the 
confidence and favor of the community, and the en- 
joyment and protection, and benefits of the laws, to 
all intents and purposes as if the act or acts for 
which they stand chargeable had not been committed. 

Given under our hands, at Illinois camp ground, this 
10th day of July, 1839. By order of the national con- 
vention. GEORGE LOWRY, 

GEORGE GUESS, 
Presidents of Convention. 
Vice-Presidents: 

George Brewer, 
John Benge, 
Charles Gourd, 
James Campbell, 
Looney Price, 
Lewis Ross, 
Hdward Gunter, 
John Drew, 
Moses Parris, 
George Hicks, 
Charles Coodey, 
Archd. Campbell, 

his x mark 
Daniel McCoy. 


JOHN ROSS, 
Principal Chief of the Eastern Cherokees. 
—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ac- 
companying the Report of the Secretary of War for 
1839, p. 393. 


Young Wolf, 
Lewis Melton, 
Jack Spears, 
Luney Riley, 
Ah-sto-la-de, 
Te-ge-ton-les-ge, 
Tobacco Will, 
James Brown, 
David Melton, 
Richd. Taylor, 
Jesse Bushyhead, 
Thomas Foreman, 
Thomas Candy, 
Te-no-la-wes-ta, 
By order of the convention. 


APPENDIX XIX—7. 
LETTER OF GENERAL ARBUCKLE. 


Head Quarters, 2d Dept., W. Division, 
Fort Gibson, October 8, 1839. 
Sir: I had the honor to transmit, for the informa- 
tion of the Government, on the 2d instant, the copy of 


822 


a demand to Mr. Ross by Captain Armstrong and my- 
self for the murderers of the Ridges and Boudinot, 
together with his reply thereto, in which he not only 
refuses to deliver them up, but denies the right of the 
United States to try or punish them. Mr. Ross also 
denies any knowledge of the murderers, yet from in- 
formation received not only from his enemies but his 
friends, it appears that the death of the Ridges and 
Boudinot was determined on at the Double Spring 
council ground in June last, and that the party that 
killed John Ridge started from that council ground for 
that express purpose; and John Ross was at this time 
performing the duties of head man, or principal chief, 
of the emigrant Cherokees—still he denies any knowl- 
edge that these acts were to be committed, or of the 
persons who committed them. These circumstances, 
together with the subsequent proceedings of Mr. Ross, 
with which you have been furnished, will enable the 
Government to judge for itself as to the truth of Mr. 
Ross’s assertions. 

Although I have received assurances from some of 
the principal men of the Cherokee nation, that no re- 
sistance would be made to the troops in executing the 
orders of the Government, yet I have subsequently 
received information that Daniel Colston, one of the 
individuals implicated, says he will assemble his 
friends and sell his life as dearly as possible, should 
any attempt be made to take him; and I am appre- 
hensive, that, notwithstanding the influence of the 
chiefs will be exerted to prevent the lower class of 
Indians from opposing the troops, they may be in- 
duced to do so in consequence of the excited state of 
feeling in the Cherokee nation at this time. Infor- 
mation has also been received, that, since the demand 
for the murderers, John Ross has sent beads and to- 
bacco to the chief of the upper Creeks; and, it is pre- 
sumed, has made similar friendly overtures to the sur- 
rounding tribes. These circumstances, together with 
my own conviction that the troops may be opposed, 
and thereby cause a war between the United States 
and the Cherokee nation, have induced me to notify 
the Governor of Arkansas that the militia of the 
State may be required; and also to request the Gov- 
ernor of Missouri to have .a brigade near the south- 
western border of his State in readiness to turn out to 
defend their border—at the same time informing him 
that I was not authorized by the Government to make 
this call, yet circumstances might render such a meas- 
ure necessary. 

I have also requested the Creeks to organize them- 
selves into companies and regiments, that they might 
act in conjunction with other troops, should their 
services be required by the United States. Although 
I believe that the great majority of the Creek nation 
are friendly disposed towards the United States at 
this time, still I know not how far the measures of 
Mr. Ross may affect them; I cannot believe so far as 
to cause them to act against the United States, but 
perhaps to remain neutral. Some of the band of Alli- 
gator, a Seminole chief, who has located himself in 
the Cherokee nation, with about one hundred war- 
riors, lately paid a visit to John Ross. 

The demand for the murderers would have been de- 
ferred until the dragoons were ready to act (which 
they were not, in consequence of being separated from 
their horses), had it not been supposed by Captain 
Armstrong and myself, that such a demand would 
prevent others of the treaty party from being killed 
an attempt having been made to that effect but a 
short time previous. 

Lieut. Colonel Mason has now sent for his horses, 
and I shall be able in a week or two to commence 
operations in seizing such individuals as have been, 
or may be reported to me, who will, I have no doubt 
(if they do not determine on resistance), leave the 
country so soon as they find they are closely pressed 
by the troops. 

I deem it necessary to remark, that the small num- 
ber of officers present with the dragoons, and the 
sickly condition of his men, will render Colonel Ma- 
son’s command less efficient than I could wish—as it 
will be seen that the dragoon force is best suited for 
the service required. 

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

M. ARBUCKLE, 
Brevet Brig. General, U. S. A. 
Brig. General R. Jones, 
Adjutant General, Washington City. 


APPENDIX 


—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ac- 
companying the Report of the Secretary of War for 
1839, pp. 422-24. 


APPENDIX XIX—8S. 
LETTER OF GENERAL ARBUCKLE. 


Head Quarters, 2d Dept., W. Division, 
Fort Gibson, September 4, 1839. 

Sir: I have not written a line to Mr. Ross or his con- 
vention since my letter to you of the 14th ultimo, nor 
have I since then received any communication from 
that convention. 

I visited Fort Smith late in August, and understood, 
in passing through the Cherokee nation, that the emis- 
saries of Mr. Ross were passing through the Cherokee 
country with the object of collecting and bringing to 
the convention as many of the old settlers as possible: 
and since my return here, I am informed that John 
Looney, one of the principal chiefs of the old settlers, 
has joined the late emigrants, and that a number of 
the old settlers had assembled and deposed the chiefs, 
Brown and Rogers, and declared them ineligible to any 
office of honor or profit in the Cherokee nation, here- 
after, in consequence of their having referred their 
dispute with the eastern Cherokees to the Government 
of the United States, and for other offenses, of which 
I am not particularly informed; and it is said that 
this is the day on which an election is to take place 
at the convention ground for all the officers required 
for the new government cf the Cherokee nation. 

I am of the opinion, that Mr. Ross and his adher- 
ents have induced so many of the old settlers to join 
them, that the chiefs Brown and Rogers, and their 
friends, will not attempt any resistance to the new 
government, yet the means that have been employed 
to establish that government will no doubt long dis- 
turb the harmony of the Cherokee nation, and be the 
cause of frequent quarrels and violence between indi- 
viduals, or small parties. 

You will herewith receive a copy of a decree of the 
convention, handed to me on the 2d inst., with a letter 
from George W. Adair, John A. Bell, and others, under 
date of the 30th ult., a copy of which is herewith en- 
closed; also of my reply thereto on the 2d inst. 

I am in hopes that Adair, Bell, and others, who have 
offended by signing the late Cherokee treaty with the 
United States, will keep themselves out of the way of 
the friends of Mr. Ross, until instructions from the 
Government are received in relation to them. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

M. ARBUCKLE, 
Brevet Brig. General, U. S. A. 
Brigadier General R. Jones, 
Adjutant General, Washington City. 

P. S.—Since writing the foregoing, I have addressed 
a communication to Mr. Ross and his convention, a 
copy of which is herewith enclosed. M. A, 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, ac- 


companying the Report of the Secretary of War for — 


1839, pp. 412-13. 


APPENDIX XIX—9. 
OLD SETTLERS EXPLORE MEXICO. 


“In the fall of 1845 the bulk of Old Settler and 
Treaty parties, having become satisfied that it would 
be impossible for them to maintain a peaceful and 
happy residence in the country of their adoption while 
the influence of John Ross continued potent in their 


national government, resolved to seek for themselves 


anew home on the borders of Mexico. <A council was 
therefore held at which a delegation (consisting of 
forty-three members of the Treaty and eleven of the 
Old Settler party) was chosen to explore the country 
to the south and west for a future abode. They ren- 
dezvoused at the forks of the Canadian and Arkansas 
Rivers, and, after electing a captain, proceeded via. 
Fort Washita, crossing the Red River at Coffee’s. 
trading house, and following the ridge dividing the 
waters of the Trinity and Brazos to the latter river, 
which they crossed at Basky Creek [Bosque River?]. 
Here they found a small settlement of sixty-three 
Cherokees, who had moved in the preceding June from 
a place called by them Mount Clover, in Mexico. 
“Among their number was found Tessee Guess, the 
son of George Guess. [His wife was Rebecca Bowles, 


an, 


=. 


APPENDIX 823 


the daughter of Chief Bowles.] Leaving Brazos the 
explorers traveled westward to the Colorado, reach- 
ing it at the mouth of Stone Fort Creek, beyond 
which they proceeded in a southwesterly direction to 
the San Sabba Creek, at a point about 40 or 50 miles 
above its mouth. They returned on a line some 60 
miles south of their outgoing trip, and with their 
friends held a council at Dragoon Barracks in the 
Cherokee Nation. At this meeting it was decided to 
ask the United States to provide them a home in the 
Texas country upon their relinquishment of all inter- 
est in the Cherokee Nation, or in case of a refusal of 
this request that the territory of the nation be divided 
into two parts, and a moiety thereof be assigned to 
them with the privilege of adopting their own form 
of government and living under it. 

“The governor of Arkansas and General Arbuckle 
both concurred in the conclusions reached by this 
council, and urged upon the authorities at Washing- 
ton the necessary legislation to carry the same into 
effect.”,.—Charles C. Royce: “The Cherokee Nation of 
Indians,” fifth annual report of the Bureau of Eth- 
nology, pp. 302-03. 


APPENDIX XXI—1. 
THE STORY OF A MEXICAN CAPTIVE. 


The life-story of Vincente, or George Chisholm, was ~~ 


secured from him in person, by the writer (J. B. T.) 
in January, 1914, at Holdenville, Oklahoma, near 
which he was then making his home. Stated briefly, 
it was as follows: 

Vincente de Huersus (as it was pronounced—he 
could not spell), was born in Mexico about 1835. His 
parents were well-to-do Spanish-Mexican people, who 
were land owners. One morning when he was eight or 
nine years of age, his father sent him to drive the 
horses in from the pasture. He had just rounded up 
the horses when a Comanche war party pounced on to 
him and made him a prisoner. They then drove the 
horses on up to the ranch headquarters where they 
killed his parents and several other people, burned 
the buildings and carried him and his little sister 
away as prisoners. 

The Comanche warrior who had captured him, kept 
him as a slave. He was kindly treated but was not 
allowed his liberty out of sight. He lived with the 
Comanches a number of years—he did not remember 
exactly, but supposed it must have been at least six 
or seven. Then, one day, his master went away with 
@ war party on another raid beyond the Rio Grande, 
into Mexico. Some weeks later some of the members 
of this party returned and reported that they had met 
a company of Mexican soldiers, with whom they had 
had a battle and that the rest of the members and 
warriors in their party had been killed, including his 
master. A little later, the members of this particular 
Comanche band prepared to hold a funeral ceremony 
for this slain master. At this time, Vincente, as he 
put it, was “a good big chunk of a boy’—possibly 
fifteen or sixteen years old. The funeral ceremony 
which had been planned for his dead master, was 
quite an elaborate one. First, all of his master’s finest 
wearing apparel was brought out and Vincente was 
told to don it for the occasion; then one of the mas- 
ter’s favorite horses was led up and Vincente was 
directed to mount it, which he did. As he sat on the 
horse’s back, waiting for the ceremony to begin, an- 
other Comanche, whom he did not know—a_ warrior 
who belonged to another band—came up and looked 
at him a few moments, then turned and left; shortly 
afterward he returned leading another good horse, 
which he tied to the neck of the horse upon the back 
of which Vincente was seated. Then he signed Vin- 
cente to dismount, after which he took all of the dead 
master’s beaded buckskin wearing apparel away from 
him and threw it over the saddle, at the same time 
pouing him to follow, as he led the way back to his 
odge. 

After Vincente had followed the strange warrior 
to his lodge, the latter proceeded to tell him that 
when a great Comanche died, it was the custom to 
kill his favorite war-horse to ride in the happy spirit 
land; also that, sometimes, a favorite servant was 
likewise killed, so that he might accompany the spirit 
of his master to the life beyond and serve him there. 
He then concluded by informing Vincente that such 


an action had been planned in his case, but that he 
(the strange warrior) had traded another horse for 
him (Vincente) so that the new warrior was now his 
master with whom he should make his new home. 
In telling about this Vincente said: 

“That make me feel queer. I not know about it. 
I not know how soon my new master go away, get 
killed in raid and I not know whether some one else 
trade for me next time. So I make up my mind to 
get away from Comanche. There was trader in camp 
—Black Beaver, Delaware Indian—you mentioned him 
last night—he good man. I go tell him ‘I want to get 
away from Comanche. I want him buy me.’ He say, 
‘No boy, goods all traded, Indian no take buffalo robes 
back, no take horses back.’ Then I say, ‘I have to 
run away and maybe so, I starve.’ Then he say ‘no, 
boy, you wait ’nother trader he come, he good man— 
he trade for you. He buy you.’”’ 

So Vincente waited. Several days later his new 
master’s horses were gone. His master had a big mule 
which had strayed off and the horses had followed 
him. Vincente was sent out to look for them early 
in the morning. He had on a pair of moccasins and 
breech-clout and a little ragged buffalo robe which 
barely covered his body. His arms and legs were bare 
and the snow was lying in patches on the prairie. He 
was cold and hungry, but he could find no trace of the 
big mule and the new master’s herd of ponies. He 
was afraid to return to the Comanche camp without 
the ponies, lest he be punished for not finding them. 
He rode “until the sun was up there,” and he pointed 
about an hour past noon. 

He sat on the horse, on top of a hill, looking down 
a long valley which stretched away toward the east. 
Far away he saw something glisten. He did not 
know why, but it attracted him. He got down into 
the valley and went toward it. Occasionally he would 
ride up out of the valley and take another look. 
Finally he saw it was some men with wagons and 
teams, and it had been the reflection of the sun from 
one of the wagon tires he had seen glistening. He 
rode over and found that these men had just gone 
into camp for the day. They were traders. He said, 
“That was the first time I ever saw the old man,” 
meaning Jesse Chisholm. 

The men were making a fire preparatory to cook- 
ing a meal. Vincente asked if they had seen a big 
mule followed by.a herd of ponies. None of them had, 
but Chisholm said, “Sit here by the fire and get warm. 
The hunters will come in after a while and maybe 
they have seen the ponies.” So Vincente waited and 
he was almost famished, with the smell of cooking 
meat in his nostrils. After a little while the hunters 
did come in and, sure enough, one of them had seen 
the big mule and the ponies that belonged to his new 
master. So he rode away to find them, Chisholm call- 
ing after him to tell him to drive the ponies back that 
way before he started to drive them to the Indian 
camp. 

When Vincente drove the ponies up to the traders’ 
camp, he found dinner ready. After he had eaten all 
he wanted, he approached Chisholm just as he had 
spoken to Black Beaver and told him his plight and 
asked his help. In reply, Chisholm said: 

“Drive the ponies back to your master’s lodge. Tell 
the Comanches not to move, that I am coming to 
trade. We will talk about getting you away from the 
Comanches after I am at their camp.” 

So, with a hopeful heart, Vincente drove the ponies 
back to the camp of his master’s Comanche band. 
Late in the afternoon of the next day, Chisholm’s two 
wagons drove up and went into camp a short distance 
from the Indian village. The next morning, Vincente’s 
new master told him to catch the big mule and bring 
it up to the lodge, which he did. He then told Vin- 
cente to lead the mule and follow him, as he led the 
way over toward the trader’s camp. After arriving 
there, the new master proceeded to explain by the 
sign language that he wanted to trade the big mule 
for some goods, to which Chisholm responded, like- 
wise by signs, in effect, saying: 

“T do not want that big mule. I will trade for that 
boy.” Immediately the warrior signed back, “No, he 
Comanche boy—no trade.” Chisholm then made sign, 
“Tf I cannot trade for that boy I will not trade at 
all. I go to some other band to trade.” 

The Indian protested and other warriors joined him 
in the protest, but Chisholm was firm and would not 


824 


trade unless he could trade for the boy. They finally 
made him give, ‘a good horse and a pile of goods 
that high,” indicating with his hand a space fifteen 
inches from the ground, which he said was filled with 
a blanket, some broadcloth, red flannel, calico, Knives, 
tobacco, a looking glass, beads, brass wire, and other 
items such as were treasured by the Indians of that 
time. Vincente said that during the rest of Chisholm’s 
stay in that camp he stayed very close to Chisholm, 
because he knew if the Comanches could coax him 
away they would run him off where the trader would 
never see him again. 

Several days later, when Chisholm loaded his wagon 
and prepared to start on the homeward trip, several 
Comanches came and.whispered to him, suggesting 
that he wait until the trader got a day or two away, 
then steal several of his best horses and come back— 
“but you bet that was just what I was not going to 
do,’ he added. 

Then he told of being taken back to Chisholm’s 
home near the mouth of Little River, where he was 
adopted as a member of the Chisholm family, and 
called George Chisholm. He said, “the old man called 
me ‘son’ and I called him ‘father,’ and we loved each 
other like father and son.” 

George Chisholm then told of the other adopted 
captives that had likewise been taken into the kind- 
hearted trader’s home, naming them on his fingers 
until he had told off nine, including himself. He said, 
“we were all Mexicans except one, Jackson Chisholm,” 
and here he pulled up his sleeve to show the bleached 
skin of his fore-arm was white—meaning he, this 
other boy, was white, and possibly American. 

Vincente, or George Chisholm, then told of his life 
with his foster father down until the old man died. 
The writer asked him what year it was that Chisholm 
rescued him from captivity among the Comanches. 
He shook his head and said, ‘I don’t know. I was a 
right smart chunk of a boy.” 

As the writer was anxious to know when this rescue 
had taken place, he asked several questions, answers 
to which might have thrown some light upon the pos- 
sible time of such a rescue. Finally, he asked. 

“Do you remember the first year that so many peo- 
ple went to California?’ At this inquiry, the old 
man’s eyes brightened, and he said: 

SO ye Vesna saw train after train go up by the 
Arkansas River.” To which the writer added: 

“On the Santa Fe Road, in Western Kansas?” To 
which the old man nodded in the affirmative, adding: 

“But I was with the Comanches then.” The next 
question was: 

“Did you ever see any other trains go after that?” 
To which he responded: 

“Yes, I saw big train go up the Canadian River 
Road next year, but I was with the old man then.” 
And thus the date of his rescue from captivity was 
determined to have been the winter of 1849-50. 

After the death of Jesse Chisholm, Vincente, or 
George Chisholm, as he was then better known, be- 
came a civilian scout and interpreter at Fort Sill, 
where he lived from the time of its establishment 
until 1874. He said he used to see his sister occasion- 
ally. She had grown to womanhood among the Co- 
manches and became the wife of a Comanche warrior. 
He said she was the mother of twin sons, who were 
accounted about the most intolerable and irrecon- 
cilable warriors in the whole Comanche tribe. During 
the last general outbreak in 1874, Vincente took of- 
fense at some treatment accorded to him by General 
McKenzie, who was in command at Fort Sill, where- 
upon he resigned his position as scout and interpreter, 
and returned to the Creek Nation, his wife being a 
member of that tribe. 

The writer. saw George Chisholm last, in the sum- 
mer of 1917, and later learned that the kind-hearted 
old man died less than a year afterwards. 


APPENDIX XXII—1. 
JOHN R. BAYLOR’S LETTER 


The attitude and disposition of John R. Baylor with 
regard to the treatment to be accorded to Indians is 
presumably fairly reflected in the following letter, 
which was written by him to one of his military sub- 
ordinates several years later, and which is extracted 
from the Official Records of the Union and Confeder- 
ate Armies, Series I, Vol. L, Part I, p. 942: 


APPENDIX 


Headquarters Second Regiment, 
Texas Mounted Rifles, 
Mesilla, March 20, 1862. 
Captain Helm, 

Commanding Arizona Guards. 

Sir: I learn from Lieut. J. J. Jackson that the 
Indians have been in to your post for the purpose of 
making a treaty. The Congress of the Confederate 
States has passed a law declaring extermination to 
all hostile Indians. You will therefore use all means 
to persuade the Apaches or any tribes to come for 
the purpose of making peace, and when you get them 
together kill all the grown Indians and take the 
children prisoners and sell them to defray the expense 
of killing the Indians. Buy whisky and such other 
goods as may be necessary for the Indians and I will 
order vouchers given to cover the amount expended. 
Leave nothing undone to insure success, and have a 
sufficient number of men around to allow no Indian 
to escape. Say nothing of your orders until the time 
arrives, and be cautious how you let the Mexicans 
know it. 
Aycock, at this place, and he will send you thirty men 
from his company—but use the Mexicans if they can 
be trusted, as bringing troops from here might excite 
suspicion with the Indians. To your judgment I in- 
trust this important matter and look to you for suc- 
cess aganist those cursed pests who have already 
murdered over 100 men in this Territory. 

JOHN R. BAYLOR, 
Colonel, Commanding. 


APPENDIX XXII—2. 


RESOLUTIONS OF MASS MEETING IN PARKER 
COUNTY. 


Two mass meetings of the citizens of Parker County 
were held, both convening at Weatherford, the first 
on June 20, 1859, and the second three days later. The 
resolutions adopted at the first meeting were positive 
and vigorous but evidently not sufficiently lurid to 
quicken the passions and fire the hearts of the set- 
tlers, hence the same committee on _ resolutions 
brought in a much more incendiary report at the 
second meeting (Annual Report of the Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs, 1859, pp. 317-18), one paragraph of 
which is reproduced below. Incidentally, it is worthy 
of comment that John R. Baylor was present at the 
first Weatherford meeting, hence the second meeting, 
with its more inflammatory resolutions. The para- 
graph thus inspired read as follows: 

“We call upon you, fellow-citizens, in the name of 
all that is sacred; in behalf of suffering women and 
children, whose blood paints afresh, from the Red 
river to the Rio Grande, day by day, the scalping- 
knife of the savage foe; in the name of mothers whose 
daughters lave been violated by the ‘reserve Indians,’ 


. and robbed of that virtue which God alone can give— 


come, come, fellow-citizens; arouse, and take action 
before the number of deaths of tender infants, 
mothers, fathers and aged grandsires is swollen to a 
more frightful extent by our sluggish action or supine 


ye 


indifference! 
APPENDIX XXII—=3. 
SUPERINTENDENT RECTOR’S EXPLORATION. 


Elias Rector, superintendent of Indian Affairs for 
the Southern Superintendency, with headquarters at 


Fort Smith, was directed by the Commissioner of In- 


dian Affairs to examine the country west of the 98th 
Meridian and north of the Wichita Mountain range 
for the purpose of finding a suitable location for the 
settlement of the Indians of the Texas reserves and 
also for the Wichita tribe and those of the White 
Bead band of the Caddo tribe, which had always 
ranged in the Indian Territory, north of Red River. 
After this tour of exploration, he was to hold a con- 
ference with Major Neighbors, at Fort Arbuckle, con- 
cerning the organization of the proposed new agency 
for all of the tribes above included. Superintendent 
Rector’s report to Commissioner A. B. Greenwood was 
embodied in a letter dated at Fort Arbuckle, Ibid., on 
July -2, 2859: 

Leaving that post on June 18th, with an escort of 


If you can’t trust them send to Captain 


x 


Se a eS 


ely 


— 


eS ae ree See eae 


eo 


APPENDIX 82s 


fourteen cavalrymen, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant David 8. Stanley, and, accompanied by Samuel 
A. Blain, agent for the Wichita tribe, who was to 
assume charge of the new agency, and by William 
Quesenbury, of Arkansas, who was acting as clerk, 
and a number of Caddo, Delaware, Keechi and Wichita 
chiefs, leaders, scouts and guides, the expedition 
moved westward toward the Wichita Mountains. Four 
days later, it was stated that “we reached the site 
indicated for a fort by Major Emory (the site upon 
which Fort Sill was established, ten years later), be- 
ing that of the old Wichita village, on the Clear Fork 
of Cache Creek (Medicine Bluff Creek), south (east) 
of the Blue Mountain (Mount Scott), a principal peak 
of the Wichita range, and immediately below the vol- 
canic hills (Medicine Bluff) that lie along the south 
(east) side of that range.” 

After having satisfied himself that there was not in 
that vicinity sufficient land of a suitable quality for 
the proposed Indian settlement, the expedition moved 
over to the Keechi Hills, about twenty-five miles 
northeast of Medicine Bluff Creek, where neither the 
soil nor the water supply seemed to be satisfactory. 
A close and fairly accurate description of the country 
thus examined was included in the report, such as the 
composition and quality of the soils, rock, timber and 
other vegetation, streams, water, etc. From the Keechi 


Hills the route of the expedition followed the valley - 


of Tonkawa Creek to that of the Washita. The Super- 
intendent was not very favorably impressed with the 
natural resources of the country until he reached the 
valley of the Washita River, about two miles east of 
the site of the present county seat town of Anadarko. 
He was quite enthusiastic over the beauty and fer- 
tility of the river valley, where he proposed to locate 
the settlements of the several Indian tribes which 
were to be attached to the new agency, that was to 
be added to the jurisdiction of his superintendency. 
It was proposed to scatter these Indian settlements 
from the mouth of Sugar Tree Creek (now called 
Sugar Creek), which is several miles below the site of 
Anadarko, to other points in the valley, both above 
and below, while the Wichita and Keechi people 
elected to settle in the valley of a small creek that 
was tributary to the Canadian, twenty miles to the 
north, which he approved without visiting it in per- 
son. It was expected that the Absentee Shawnees, 
Penetaka Comanches and Tonkawas, who had not yet 
looked over the ground, would decide to locate in the 
river valley above the Caddoes and Delawares, while 
the Waco and Towakony tribes would locate with 
the Wichita. 

Superintendent Rector selected as the site of the 
new agency a spot on the south side of the Washita, 
nearly .opposite the mouth of Sugar Creek. After 
making this inspection, he turned his course toward 
the upper valley of the Little Washita, west of the 
98th Meridian (which was the eastern boundary of 
the Leased District within which these tribes were to 
be settled), but he saw no reason for changing the 
locations already selected on the Washita. From 
thence he returned to Fort Arbuckle, where he met 
Major Neighbors, who had arrived from Texas, earlier 
that same day—June 30. The latter was accompanied 
by chiefs and headmen of the Penetaka Comanche, 
Texas Caddo, Towakony, Waco, Anadarko and Ton- 
kawa bands and tribes. 

With Major Neighbors, Agent Blain, Lieutenant 
Stanley and others, Superintendent Rector then had an 
extended conference and, afterward with the repre- 
sentatives of the various Indian Tribes. All interests 
involved were carefully considered. In concluding his 
report he made a number of pertinent observations 
and recommendations, stressing the fact that most of 
the Indians to be assigned to the new agency would 
need to be largely rationed at Government expense 
until they could get their little fields broken out and 
fenced, which he estimated at two years. Prepara- 
tions for the early removal of the people of all of 
these tribes to the new locations which had been thus 
selected, were begun immediately afterward, Major 


_ Neighbors returning to Texas to give the matter his 


personal attention. 


APPENDIX XXII—4. 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ROBERT §S. 
NEIGHBORS. 


Robert S. Neighbors was born in Virginia (locality 
not recorded), November 8, 1815. His parents died 
while he was young and, at the age of nineteen, he 
left for the Southwest. He stopped for a time in 
Louisiana. The news of the fall of Aiamo was like 
a trumpet call to hundreds of young Americans who 
thronged to Texas to aid in the struggle for its 
independence, and Robert S. Neighbors was one of 
those who made haste to respond. He enlisted in 
Captain Hayden Arnold’s company, with which he 
participated in the battle of San Jacinto. He subse- 
quently served with the Texas Rangers and he is said 
to have been a member of Kendall’s Santa Fe expedi- 
tion, in 1839, whence he was taken with other pris- 
oners to the city of Mexico, where they were held for 
more than a year before their release. 

Shortly after his return to his home at San Antonio, 
the Mexican General Woll invaded that place. Neigh- 
bors was acting as clerk of the District Court, which 
was in session and he was captured with other court 
officials, September 11, 1842, and, with fifty-two other 
Texans, was carried to the Castle Perote, where he 
was imprisoned until March 23, 1844, when with 
others he was released at the urgent request of Gen- 
eral Waddy Thompson, the United States minister. 

HKarly in 1845, Neighbors was appointed by the Re- 
public of Texas as agent for the Tonkahua (Ton- 
kawa) and Lipan tribes of Indians. He was reported 
to be quite successful in his management of the affairs 
of these Indians. He assisted the United States treaty 
commissioners (Pierce M. Butler and M. J. Lewis) in 
negotiating the treaty with seven tribes of Indians, on 
the Brazos River, in the spring of 1846, and, with 
one of the agents selected to accompany the delega- 
tion of chiefs which went from that important council 
on a visit to Washington. After his return from 
Washington he was appointed special Indian Agent for 
the Indians of the State of Texas, a position which 
he filled acceptably until August, 1849, when he was 
superseded by a partisan appointee of the Taylor ad- 
ministration. He served then for a time as commis- 
sioner of the State for the organization of new coun- 
ties in which capacity he succeeded in organizing the 
county of El Paso, whose people had been Mexican 
citizens and who were hostile to Texas until a short 
time before. 

He was then elected a member of the Fourth Legis- 
lature of Texas, representing the counties of Bexar 
and Medina in the lower house. There he served as 
chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, in which 
capacity he was instrumental in securing the passage 
of a joint resolution authorizing the governor of 
Texas to enter into negotiations with the President of 
the United States for the purpose of establishing an 
Indian territory in the northern part of Texas, to 
serve as the home of all the Indians of the tribes 
living in Texas at the time of its annexation. Though 
nothing came of this proposition, it gave evidence 
of his farsightedness. 

In 1853 he was appointed to a position as supervis- 
ing agent in the United States Indian Service and was 
assigned to the general supervision of all Indian af- 
fairs in the State of Texas, with three agencies under 
him. In 1854 he assisted Captain R. B. Marcy in 
selecting his reservations on the Brazos River, unon 
which the various small tribes and fragments of tribes 
were to be concentrated under agreement between the 
Federal Government and the Texas authorities. The 
Indians were located on these reservations during the 
following year. The dismissal of a jealous-hearted 
subordinate was followed by a deliberate and syste- 
matically directed endeavor to poison the minds of the 
inhabitants of neighboring counties against the Ind’- 
ans living on the Brazos reservations, and the same 
spirit of mischievous malevolence aimed its shaft 
against Supervising Agent Neighbors. 

While on his way home from the valley of the 
Washita, whither he had taken the Indians to a place 


826 


of safety, he walked unafraid, into the settlement near 
the recent agency of the Lower Reserve, where cow- 
ardly assassins were thirsting for his blood. There 
he was shot down by a man to whom he was an entire 
stranger and died a few minutes later, September 13, 
1859. His tragic death occasioned great sorrow among 
thousands of Texans who had known him and who 
appreciated his services to Texas, both as Republic 
and as a State, and to the Federal Union; but by none 
was he mourned more deeply than by the Indians of 
the tribes of the Washita, whom he had befriended 
and protected; they are said to have moaned and 
wailed for many days after learning of his death. In- 
deed, it was reported that it was with difficulty that 
their new agent prevented some of them from steal- 
ing away to wreak summary vengeance upon his 
assassins. His interest in and friendship for the 
Indian people was always marked. He was quoted as 
an authority on the Comanches in Schoolcraft’s 
“History of North American Indians.” His home was 
on a ranch on the Salado, six miles from San Antonio, 
in the vicinity of which some of his descendants still 
live. 
APPENDIX XXIII—1. 
RUNAWAY SLAVE IN THE CHEROKEE NATION. 


Rev. C. C. Torrey, who was in charge of the Fair- 
field Mission for a time, related in his reminiscences of 
life in the Cherokee Nation an incident in which he 
was blamed for instigating a slave to run away, al- 
though he not only had nothing to do with the run- 
away but also would have been the loser as the result 
of misplaced confidence had the slave succeeded in 
making good his escape. Mr. Torrey’s account of the 
affair was as follows: 

“In July, 1856, we had in our employ a slave, David, 
by name, who was hired from his mistress. We were 
obliged to hire such help if any, and we always gave 
them money for their services beside what we paid 
their master or mistress. David was a Christian, a 
member of our church at Fairfield. He found that he 
was to be taken from us and sent elsewhere. He did 
not know whether he would be kindly treated by his 
new masters and dreaded the change, so he determined 
to run away. He asked to borrow my horse to go to 
Park Hill. He did not stop there, however, but kept 
on toward Kansas. He was overtaken, arrested and 
brought back and Doctor Worcester and I were 
charged with instigating and planning the escape, 
furnishing him with money and a horse for the pur- 
pose. 

“This stirred up a general disturbance throughout 
the country. It was taken up in the legislature (coun- 
cil) and there was an effort made to secure my re- 
moval. I made an affidavit as to the real facts in the 
case, Showing that I knew nothing whatever of 
David’s plans. Then they tried to pass an act requir- 
ing all missionaries to appear before the United States 
AAEY and give an account of themselves, but this also 
ailed.” 


APPENDIX XXIII—2. 
THE JUBILEE SINGERS. 


Among the slave servants hired at Spencer Academy 
in the Choctaw Nation, during the time that Rev. 
Alexander Reid was superintendent of the Academy 
(1849-61), were two old negroes known by the names 
of Uncle Wallace and Aunt Minerva, belonging to a 
citizen by the name of Britt Willis who lived near 
Doaksville. People who knew the old couple took de- 
light in hearing them sing the songs, the words and 
melodies of which, Uncle Wallace himself composed as 
he worked in the cotton and corn fields of the Red 
River country. After the Civil War, when the Jubilee 
singers, a negro troop from Fisk University in Tennes- 
see, began giving concerts to raise funds for educa- 
tional work among the freedmen of the South, Rever- 
end Reid had occasion to hear them sing in Newark, 
New Jersey. He related how he helped the Jubilees 
to success by giving them some of Uncle Wallace’s 
songs, in a letter dated from Doaksville, January 15, 
1884, to Rev. John Edwards, who had written him 
asking about the incidents. A portion of this letter as 
it appeared in “The Presbyterian,” September 10, 1890, 
a few months after Reverend Reid’s death, is as 
follows: 

“My connection with the ‘Jubilees’ was in this wise. 


APPENDIX 


In 1871, on their first visit to New York and its sub- 
urbs, Brooklyn, Newark, &c., and before they had 
become celebrated, they gave several concerts in 
Newark. J. S. and myself happened to be at the G.’s 
the night they gave their first concert. We and the 
whole G. family went to hear them. The G.’s and the 
audience were in raptures. The boys and myself 
were not, though we were much pleased. Such singing 
was new to them, but not to us. Some one asked the 
boys what they thought of the singing. They replied 
that it was good, but that they had often heard better 
singing at Spencer; that Uncle Wallace and Aunt 
Minerva could beat the best of them. 

“At the close Professor White gave notice that they 
would give concerts in several other churches in the 
city that week, but told the people that they had so 
few plantation songs that they would not be able to 
make out a new programme for the following con- 
certs. This he regretted. It flashed at once into my 
mind that I could furnish him some pieces—genuine 
plantation songs—equal to any I had heard that 
night, and thus help on the good cause of education 
among the Freedmen. I went and told Professor White 
this. He was delighted with the offer and appointed 
a day for me to meet the ‘Jubilees’ in Brooklyn. 

“At the appointed time I went from Princeton, my 
headquarters then, to Brooklyn, and began the course 
of musical instruction. I gave the jubilee troop six 
songs in writing, spent a whole day in practicing them 
on the tunes, until they got them perfectly. I some- 
times feel as if I must have been inspired for that 
special occasion. Though fond of music, I don’t know 
one note from another, and never could master cour- 
age to start a tune in meeting. Yet on that day I 
stood up before Professor White and his trained ‘Jubi- 
lees’ (eleven of them) and sang my six songs over 
and over again until I had anchored the tunes firmly 
deep down in their hearts. 

“Two of the songs became very popular, viz.: ‘Steal 
away to Jesus,’ and ‘I’m a rolling, I’m a rolling,’ etc. 
The first became the most popular of all the Jubilee 
singers’ songs. It was one of the two songs sung 
before Queen Victoria [The Queen called for an encore 
of this song]. I have heard the Hutchinsons sing it 
at one of their concerts with a trumpet accompaniment 
to the words: 


‘The trumpet sounds in my soul, 
I hain’t got long to stay here.’ 


“Professor White years ago assured me that by giv- 
ing his ‘Jubilees’ those songs, just when I did, the 
very time of need, I had made the most valuable con- 
tribution to Fisk of any one person. When he was 
about to publish the ‘Story of the Jubilees’ with a se- 
lection of their songs, he wanted to state therein his 
indebtedness to me for the aid I had rendered. I was 
too modest to give my consent. My boys have told me 
often since that I missed the only chance I ever had 
of getting my name on the roll of fame. Maybe so. 

“Now, thirteen years after I met Professor White 
in Brooklyn, I find myself here among the Freedmen 
trying to help them. If Uncle Wallace had a grand- 
son or a granddaughter really worth sending to Fisk, 
I believe they would be received there and educated 
gratuitously for his sake, and Aunt Minerva’s sake, 
from whom I learned ‘Steal away to Jesus.’ . 

The Jubilee Singers also made a tour of Germany, 
where they sang before large audiences. The Berliner 
“Musik Zeitung,” a severely critical journal, printed a 
long article on the concert program of the Jubilees, 
saying in part: “Every musician felt then that the 
performances of these singers are the result of high 
artistic talent, finely trained taste, and extraordinary 
diligence. Such pianissimo, such crescendo, and @ 
decrescendo, as those at the close of ‘Steal Away’ 
might raise the envy in the soul of any choir-master. 

; Thus the balance turns decidedly in favor of 
the Jubilee singers, and we confess ourselves their 
debtors. Not only have we had a rare musical treat, 
but our musical ideas have also received enlargement, 
and we feel that something may be learned of these 
negro singers, if only we will consent , to break 
through the fetters of custom and long use.’ 

In 1883 Mr. Reid went to considerable tour and 
expense to secure photographs of Uncle Wallace and 
Aunt Minerva for the walls of Fisk University. A few 
months later Uncle Wallace died and was buried in the 
negro burying ground about a mile and a half west 


APPENDIX 


of Old Boggy Depot. At the beginning of the Civil 
War, Mr. John Kingsbury, the son of Rey. Cyrus 
Kingsbury, had taken the two old slaves and some of 
their children to Boggy Depot where they later re- 
ceived their emancipation. 


APPENDIX XXIII—3. 
A MISSIONARY’S ATTITUDE TOWARD SLAVERY. 


Rev. John Edwards, missionary to the Choctaws 
from 1851 to 1861, gave his attitude toward slavery as 
follows: 

“My sentiments on the subject of slavery were such 
that I could not live among them [i. e. the Choctaws] 
without giving offense. While esteeming it an un- 
desirable institution, and therefore not to be perpetu- 
ated, and disapproving many of the laws connected 
with the system, and many of the proceedings under it 
yet I did not deem it necessarily a sin to hold slaves. 
It seemed to me that the possession of the amount of 
power over a fellowman conferred by it was not in 
itself wrong. All depended upon the way in which 
that power was used. It might be of benefit to both 
servant and master. But it was very liable to abuse, 
and was in fact often greatly abused. I never deemed 
myself fit to be a master. I would be altogether too 
easy. So I had no disposition to buy a slave even if 
I had had the means to do so. : 

“With these views I had no hesitation in receiving 
masters as well as servants to the communion of the 
church. I also hired slaves as necessity required. They 
were glad to be hired by the missionaries. 

“T supposed that, in the war which was beginning 
in 1861, ministers would be regarded as non-combat- 
ants by both sides, and that they would not be ex- 
pected to take up arms. So my expectation was to go 
quietly on with my work for the spiritual, as well as 
the temporal good of the Choctaw people, and of 
others dwelling among them. My idea was that at 
sometime in the future, perhaps a hundred years 
hence, God, in his providence, would have the slaves 
prepared in some better measure for freedom, and that 
then, perhaps by making the system unprofitable, he 
would bring it to an end. But His plans were quite 
different from mine, as events showed.” 

In another portion of the same manuscript, Mr. 
Edwards wrote how Mr. Libby, a mission worker 
among the Choctaws and a strong abolitionist, became 
a slaveholder. 

“Mr. L. was from Maine. When he first came to Mr. 
Kingsbury’s station as a laborer his views and feeling 
on the subject of slavery were such and so freely ex- 
pressed that he made himself offensive. So after he 
had been there a year or two, it was thought best that 
he should leave there. In 1855, during our absence on 
account of Mrs. Edwards’ health, the steward of our 
boarding school resigned. I corresponded with Mr. 
Libby in reference to taking the vacant place. He was 
willing. He said that the people at home who were 
making so great a noise on the subject of slavery were 
doing no good to any one. On the other hand the mis- 
sionaries were doing good to all, white, red and black. 
He was willing to go back and hold his tongue. Secre- 
tary Treat asked me if I did not fear Mr. L. would 
make us trouble. I told him I thought he would not. 
So he was appointed. 

“His predecessor had had in his employ old Aunt 
Eliza, who belonged to a young Choctaw. We had her 
a little while, but Mrs. E. could not tolerate her lack of 
neatness in her work. Aunt Eliza wished Mr. L. to 
hire her and he did. After a while her young master 
wished to sell her and she begged Mr. Libby to buy 
her. He yielded to her entreaties and bought her, 
paying $200.00 for her. In course of time, her hus- 
band, Uncle Bob, was sold to a white neighbor, Mr. 
Hodges, a citizen by marriage, who purposed to sell 
him into Texas. He came to Mr. Libby and begged him 
to buy him, too. Their joint entreaties moved him to 
take pity on them and he bought him, paying $500.00 
for him. So the abolitionist had become a slave- 
holder.”’ 

In 1861, when a company of pro-slavery citizens 
from the Choctaw Nation and Texas visited some of 
the mission workers in order to ascertain their atti- 
tude toward the secession movement, one of the com- 
pany said he vouched for Mr. Libby because he was a 
slaveholder himself. In writing of these incidents, Mr. 
Edwards added the statement, “Little did they imagine 


827 


that, when he had read the account of the great 
Union meeting in Union Square, New York, he said, 
‘Don’t I wish I was there! I would volunteer.’ ” 


APPENDIX XXIV—1. 
“THE CORN SCANDAL” IN THE CHOCTAW NATION. 


Under an award of the United States Senate in 1859, 
the sum of $500,000 had been granted the Choctaws as 
a part of the $2,981,247.30 due on the Net Proceeds 
claim, arising under the Removal Treaty of 1880. 
One-half of the $500,000 was paid out to the Nation in 
cash, the balance being paid in bonds that remained 
in charge of the Government at Washington, and were 
later confiscated during the war, as rebel property. 
A large part of the cash payment was appropriated 
by the Choctaw Council for the purchase of corn in 
the winter of 1860-61, in order to provide supplies for 
the destitute members of the tribe, who were suffer- 
ing from the results of the terrible drought of the 
previous summer. Only a portion of the corn that 
was purchased by Agent Douglas H. Cooper was ever 
distributed to the Choctaws; in addition it was 
suspicioned that he diverted some of the Choctaw 
funds to his own private use. When the General 
Council met at Doaksville, in June, 1861, the corn 
purchase was still in the process of settlement, a 
resolution being passed, asking Cooper to submit 
vouchers and an accounting for the money that had 
been turned over to him. There followed what was 
Supposed to be a full and satisfactory settlement at 
the time. However, a few years after the close of 
the war, a bitter controversy arose among leading 
citizens in the Choctaw Nation over the collection of 
the $250,000 in confiscated bonds, the payment of 
which had been provided for in the Choctaw Treaty 
of 1866, in connection with the long drawn-out Net 
Proceeds claim. As Douglas H. Cooper continued to 
be more or less involved in Choctaw affairs, especially 
in connection with the results of the negotiations of 
the Treaty of 1866, the old charges of the “corn 
scandal” were brought against him by his enemies, 

In answer to these charges of fraud, Cooper made 
an explanation of the transactions of 1860-61, in 
which he said that all the funds allowed him were 
used legitimately in the purchase of corn after the 
drought of 1860. One large shipment was brought up 
the Arkansas River and distributed to the Choctaws 
near Skullyville. A portion of this shipment, how- 
ever, was damaged in transit, but it was sold at a 
reduced price, rather than give out spoiled corn to 
the Choctaws, and the proceeds, something over $5,000, 
was returned to the tribal authorities. A second large 
shipment which had been purchased in the North was 
detained on the Ohio River, as contraband cargo, by 
Federal authorities who claimed that it was being 
sent to the Confederate States. The third shipment 
was brought up the Red River, but on account of low 
water, the boats could proceed no farther than “‘the 
Raft.” Due to the delay, the grain began to sprout 
and rot; rather than lose the whole amount of the 
purchase, it was ordered to be sold, Cooper detailing 
two Choctaw citizens to go down to Louisiana and 
attend to the business. They were supposed to have 
returned the proceeds to the proper tribal authorities, 
but no report was ever made by them, so Cooper testi- 
fied. 

After the war, 
Cooper, by his enemies, 


a specific charge made against 
was that he diverted the 
proceeds of the spoiled corn, sold near Skullyville 
(about $5,000), for his own use. When an investiga- 
tion was called by the tribal authorities to consider 
these charges, Cooper alleged (in his explanation a 
few years later) that many of the papers, receipts, 
ete., connected with the original settlement of 1861 
were seized by one of the Choctaw citizens who had 
had charge of selling the spoiled corn on Red River 
and who had never made any report on the same. 
As it happened, the Choctaw citizen whom _ Cooper 
blamed with these charges of fraud had died before 
Cooper made his explanation. 

Since the story of ‘the corn scandal” is a long 
one—one that involved politics far beyond the borders 
of the Choctaw Nation itself—all the details can- 
not be given in this short sketch, but it may be 
well to bear in mind that affairs in 1860 and 1861 
were never more hazardous for the Choctaw people; 
conditions on the whole frontier were in a most 
chaotic state and, as a result, any business taking 


82& 


place at the time would necessarily be more or less 
irregular in its transaction. In summing up the 
charges against Douglas H. Cooper, it may be said 
that he was his own worst enemy, in that the dis- 
solute habits of a lifetime made him a victim of 
circumstances at the period when old age was creep- 
ing on and the course he had taken during the Civil 
War had won him no honors. Cooper may have been 
shrewd and designing, but it is also certain that after 
the Civil War he became the scapegoat for many 
misdeeds that may have been attempted or contem- 
plated by others who were as guilty as he was in 
their relations with the affairs of the Choctaws. 


APPENDIX XXIV—2. 


RESOLUTIONS EXPRESSING THE FEELINGS AND 
SENTIMENTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF 
THE CHOCTAW NATION IN REFERENCE TO THE 
POLITICAL DISAGREEMENT EXISTING BETWEEN 
THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN STATES OF 
THE AMERICAN UNION, 

February 7, 1861. 


Resolved by the General Council of the Choctaw 
Nation assembled, That we view with deep regret 
and great solicitude the present unhappy political 
disagreement between the Northern and the South- 
ern States of the American Union, tending to a per- 
manent dissolution of the Union and the disturbance 
of the various important relations existing with that 
Government by treaty stipulations and international 
laws, and portending much injury to the Choctaw 
government and people. 

Resolved further, That we must express the ear- 
nest desire and ready hope entertained by the entire 
Choctaw people, that any and all political distur- 
bances agitating and dividing the people of the va- 
rious States may be honorably and speedily adjusted; 
and the example and blessing, and fostering care 
of their General Government, and the many and 
friendly social ties existing with their people, con- 
tinue for the enlightenment in moral and good govern- 
ment and prosperity in the material concerns of life to 
our whole population. 

Resolved further, That in the event a permanent 
dissolution of the American Union takes place, our 
many relations with the General Government must 
cease, and we shall be left to follow the natural af- 
fections, education, institutions, and interests of our 
people, which indissolubly bind us in every way to 
the destiny of our neighbors and brethren of the 
Southern States, upon whom we are confident we 
can rely for the preservation of our rights of life, 
liberty, and property, and the continuance of many 
acts of friendship, general counsel, and material sup- 
port. 

Resolved further, That we desire to assure our im- 
mediate neighbors, the people of Arkansas and Texas, 
of our determination to observe the amicable rela- 
tions in every way so long existing between us, and 
the firm reliance we have, amid any disturbance with 
other States, the rights and feelings so sacred to us 
will remain respected by them and be protected from 
the encroachments of others. 

Resolved further, That his excellency the principal 
chief be requested to inclose, with an appropriate 
communication from himself, a copy of these resolu- 
tions to the governors of the Southern States, with 
the request that they be laid before the State con- 
vention of each State, as many as have assembled 
at the date of their reception, and that in such as 
cob not they be published in the newspapers of the 

tate. 

Resolved, That these resolutions take effect and be 
in force from and after their passage. 

Approved February 7, 1861. 

—Official Records of the Union and Confederate 
Armies, First Series, Vol. 1, p. 682 


APPENDIX XXIV—3. 


RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE ELECTION 
OF DELEGATES BY JOINT BALLOT OF BOTH 
HOUSES OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL WHO ARE 
TO MEET THE CHICKASAW DELEGATES IN GEN- 
ERAL CONVENTION, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CON- 
SULTING FOR THEIR COMMON SAFETY. 


Section 1. Be it resolved by the General Council 
of the Choctaw Nation assembled, That twelve dele- 


APPENDIX 


gates be elected by this Council in the following 
order, viz: five from Apuckshanubbee District, four 
from Pushmataha District and three from Mosholo- 
tubbee District, who shall meet the Chickasaw dele- 
gates in convention at Boggy Depot, Choctaw Na- 
tion, on the 11th day of March, 1861, to consult for 
the common safety of these two tribes, in the event 
of the dissolution of the American Union. 

Sec. 2. Be it further resolved, That the said dele- 
gates shall be allowed the same per diem and mileage 
as the members of the General Council of this Na- 
tion are allowed under the existing laws. 

Sec. 38. Be it further resolved, That one clerk be 
elected out of the Nation to accompany the said dele- 
gates and be allowed the same pay as said delegates; 
in case the clerk gets sick, the delegates shall ap- 
point one. 

Sec. 4. Be it further resolved, That upon certificate 
of the Principal Chief that such services have been 
performed, stating the amount allowed to such dele- 
gate and clerk to said convention, the National Audi- 
tor is hereby authorized to issue his warrant for such 
amounts on the National Treasurer, who is required 
to draw the same out of the school fund now in the Na- 
tional Treasury, and refund the same whenever any 
money for the expense of this Government come into 
said Treasury; provided, said Treasurer is requested 
to go and pay the above Choctaw delegates at Boggy 
Depot, C. N., who shall be allowed the same pay as 
the said delegates. 

Sec. 5. Be it further resolved, That the said dele- 
gates shall report their action in said convention 
to the next General Council, or submit the same to 
the popular vote of the people at ballot box for their 
approval or disapproval. 

Sec. 6. Be it further resolved, That in the event 
of said delegates decide to submit their action in 
said convention to the vote of the people, the Prin- 
cipal Chief is hereby requested to issue his proclama- 
tion, commanding the proper officers to hold an elec- 
tion for the purpose of allowing the people to vote 
on the same. 

Sec. 7. Be it further resolved, That His Excellency, 
the Principal Chief of this Nation, is hereby politely, 
yet urgently requested to attend the said convention, 
who shall be allowed the same per diem and mileage 
as the members of the General Council are now al- 
lowed under existing laws; provided, however, his 
mileage shall be allowed from Doaksville to Boggy 
Depot alone. 

Sec. 8. Be it further resolved, That in case any of 
the said delegates fail to attend said convention, the 
Principal Chief shall have the power to fill by ap- 
pointment any and all such vacancies, and also to 
add additional delegates, if he deem necessary to the 
better representation of the Choctaw people. 

See. 9. Be it further resolved, That the Principal 
Chief of this Nation shall commission the said dele- 
gates and their clerk to the said convention. 

Sec. 10. Be it further resolved, That this resolu- 
tion take effect and be in force from and after its 
passage. ; 

Approved, February 8th, 1861. 

GEORGE HUDSON, 2.7 ConC ene 


—Pamphlet containing the Acts and Resolutions 
passed at the CALL SESSION of the GENERAL COUN- 
CIL, January, 1861, printed at Boggy Depot, pp. 121-22. 


APPENDIX XXIV—4. 
REPORT OF THE TEXAS COMMISSIONERS, 1861. 


In response to Governor Edward Clark’s request, 
the commissioners from Texas to the Indian Territory 
rendered the following report: 


His Excellency Edward Clark, 

Governor of the State of Texas: 

“The undersigned, commissioners appointed by the 
State of Texas to the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, 
Seminole, and Cherokee Nations, beg leave to submit 
the following report: 

“We started from home on the duty assigned us 
on the 27th day of February, 1861; crossed Red River 
and entered the Chickasaw Nation about thirty miles 
southwest of Fort Washita; visited and held a private 
conference with His Excellency Governor C. Harris 
and other distinguished men of that nation, who fully 
appreciated our views and the object of our mission. 
They informed us that a convention of the Chicka- 


APPENDIX 


saws and Choctaws was in a few days to convene at 
Boggy Depot, in the Choctaw Nation, to attend to 
some municipal arrangements. We, in company with 
Governor Harris and others, made our way to Boggy 
Depot, conferring privately with the principal men 
on our route. We arrived at Boggy Depot on the 
10th day of March. Their convention or council con- 
vened on the 1ith. Elected a president of the con- 
vention (Ex-Governor Walker, of the Choctaw Na- 
tion); adopted rules of decorum. On the 12th we were 
waited on by a committee of the convention. Intro- 
duced as commissioners from Texas, we presented 
our credentials and were invited to seats. The con- 
vention then asked to hear us, when Mr. James E. 
Harrison addressed them and a crowded auditory 
upon the subject of our mission, setting forth the 
grounds of our complaint against the Government 
of the United States, the wrongs we had suffered 
until our patience had become exhausted, endurance 
had ceased to be a virtue, our duty to ourselves and 
children demanded of us a disruption of the Govern- 
ment that had ceased to protect us or regard our 
rights; announced the severance of the old and the 
organization of a new Government of Confederate 
Sovereign States of the South, with a common kin- 
dred, common hopes, common interest, and a com- 
mon destiny; discussed the power of the new Gov- 


ernment, its influence, and wealth; the interest the~ 


civilized red man had in this new organization; 
tendering them our warmest sympathy and regard, 
all of which met the cordial approbation of the con- 
vention. 

“The Choctaws and Chickasaws are entirely South- 
ern and are determined to adhere to the fortunes of 
the South. They were embarrassed in their action by 
the absence of their agents and commissioners at 
Washington, the seat of Government of the North- 
ern Confederacy, seeking a final settlement with that 
Government. They have passed resolutions authoriz- 
ing the raising of a minute company in each county 
in the two nations, to be drilled for actual service 
when necessary. Their convention was highly re- 
spectable in numbers and intelligence and the busi- 
ness of the convention was dispatched with such ad- 
mirable decorum and promptness as is rarely met 
with in similar deliberative bodies within the States. 

“On the morning of the 13th, hearing that the 
Creeks (or Maskokys) and Cherokees were in coun- 
cil at the Creek agency, on the Arkansas River, 140 
miles distant, we immediately set out for that point, 
hoping to reach them before their adjournment. In 
this we were disappointed. They had adjourned two 
days before our arrival. We reached that point on 
Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, hearing that 
there was a religious meeting five miles north of 
the Arkansas River, in the Creek Nation, Mr. James 
EK. Harrison attended, which proved to be of the 
utmost importance to our mission. The Reverend 
Mr. H. S. Buckner was present, with Chilly McIntosh, 
D. N. MeIntosh, Judge Marshall, and others, examin- 
ing a translation of a portion of the Scriptures, hymn 
book, and Greek grammar by Mr. Buckner into the 
Creek language. Mr. Buckner showed us great kind- 
ness, and did us eminent service, as did also Elder 
Vandiven, at whose house we spent the night and 
portion of the next day with these gentlemen of the 
Creek Nation, and through them succeeded in hav- 
ing a convention of the five nations called by Gover- 
nor Motey Kinnaird, of the Creeks, to meet at North 
Fork (Creek Nation) on the 8th of April. 

“In the intermediate time we visited the Cherokee 
Nation, calling on their principal men and citizens, 
conversing with them freely until we reached Tahle- 
quah, the seat of government. Near this place Mr. 
John Ross resides, the Governor of the nation. We 
called on him officially. We were not unexpected, 
and were received with courtesy, but not with cor- 
diality. A long conference was had with him, con- 
ducted by Mr. Harrison on the part of the commis- 
sioners. without, we fear, any good result. He was 
very diplomatic and cautious. His position is the 
same as that held by Mr. Lincoln in his inaugural; 
declares the Union not dissolved; ignores the South- 
ern Government. The intelligence of the nation is 
not with him. Four-fifths, at least, are against his 
views, as we learned from observation and good au- 
thorities. He, as we learned, had been urged by his 
people to call a council of the nation (he having the 
only constitutional authority to do so), to take into 


829 


consideration the embarrassed condition of political 
affairs in the States, and to give some expression of 
their sentiments and sympathies. This he has per- 
sistently refused to do. His position in this is that 
of Sam. Houston in Texas, and in all probability will 
share the same fate, if not a worse one. His peo- 
ple are already oppressed by a Northern population 
letting a portion of territory purchased by them from 
the United States, to the exclusion of natives, and 
we are creditably informed that the Governors of 
some two or more of the Western free-soil States 
have recommended their people emigrating to settle 
the Cherokee country. It is due Mr. John Ross, 
in this connection, to say that during our conference 
with him he frequently avowed his sympathy for the 
South, and that, if Virginia and the other Border 
States seceded from the Government of the United 
States, his people would declare for the Southern 
Government that might be formed. The fact is not 
to be denied or disguised that among the common 
Indians of the Cherokees there exists a considerable 
abolition influence, created and sustained by one 
Jones, a Northern missionary of education and ability, 
who has been among them for many years, and who 
is said to exert no small influence with John Ross 
himself. 

“From Tahlequah we returned to the Creek Na- 
tion, and had great satisfaction in visiting their prin- 
cipal men—the McIntoshes, Stidhams, Smiths, Vanns, 
Rosses, Marshalls, and others too numerous to men- 
tion. Heavy falls of rain occurred about the time 
the convention was to meet at North Fork, which 
prevented the Chickasaws and Choctaws from at- 
tending the council, the rivers and creeks being all 
full and impassable. The Creeks, Cherokees, Semi- 
noles, Quapa, and Socks (the three latter depen- 
dencies of the Creeks) met on the 8th of April. 
After they had organized by calling Motey Kinnaird, 
the Governor of the Creeks, to the chair, a committee 
was appointed to wait on the commissioners present, 
James HE. Harrison and Capt. C. A. Hamilton, and 
invite them to appear in the convention, when, by 
invitation, Mr. Harrison addressed the convention in 
a speech of two hours. Our views were cordially 
received by the convention. The Creeks are South- 
ern and sound to a man, and when desired will show 
their devotion to our cause by acts. They meet in 
council on the 1st of May, when they will probably 
send delegates to Montgomery to arrange with the 
Southern Government, 

“These nations are in a rapid state of improvement. 
The chase is no longer resorted to as a means of 
subsistence, only as an occasional recreation. They 
are pursuing with good success agriculture and stock 
raising. Their houses are well built and comfortable, 
some of them costly. Their farms are well planned 
and some of them extensive and all well cultivated. 
Thev are well supplied with schools of learning, ex- 
tensively patronized. They have many churches and 
a large membership of moral, pious deportment. 
They feel themselves to be in an exposed, embar- 
rassed condition. They are occupying a country well 
suited to them, well watered, and fertile, with ex- 
tensive fields of the very best mineral coal, fine 
salt springs and wells, with plenty of good timber, 
water powers which they are using to an advantage. 
Pure slate, granite, sandstone, blue limestone, and 
marble are found in abundance. All this they regard 
as inviting Northern aggression, and they are without 
arms, to any extent, or munitions of war. They declare 
themselves Southerners by geographical positions, by a 
common interest, by their social system, and by blood, 
for they are rapidly becoming a nation of whites. 
They have written constitutions, laws &c., modeled 
after those of the Southern States. We recommend 
them to the fostering care of the South, and that 
treaty arrangements be entered into with them as 
soon as possible. They can raise 20,000 good fight- 
ing men, leaving enough at home to attend to do- 
mestie affairs. and under the direction of an officer 
from the Southern Government would deal destruc- 
tion to an apvroaching army from that direction, 
and in the language of one of their principal men: 

“‘Tincoln may haul his big guns about over our 
prairies in the daytime, but we will swoop down upon 
him at night from our mountains and forests, dealing 
death and destruction to his army.’ 

“No delay should be permitted in this direction. 
They cannot declare themselves until they are placed 


830 


in a defensible position. The Administration of the 
North is concentrating his forces at Fort Washita, 
about twenty-four miles from the Texas line, and 
within the limits of the Chickasaw Nation. This 
fort could easily be taken by a force of 200 or 300 
good men, and it is submitted as to whether in the 
present state of affairs a foreign Government should 
be permitted to accumulate a large force on the 
borders of our country, especially a portion contain- 
ing a large number of disaffected citizens who re- 
pudiate the action of the State. 

“In this connection it may not be improper to state 
that from North Fork to Red River we met over 
120 wagons, movers from Texas to Kansas and other 
free States. These people are from Grayson, Collin, 
Johnson, and Denton, a country beautiful in appear- 
ance, rich in soil, genial in climate, and inferior to 
none in its capacity for the production of the cereals 
and stock. In disguise, we conversed with them 
freely. They had proposed by the ballot box to 
abolitionize at least that portion of the State. Fail- 
ing in this, we suppose at least 500 voters have re- 
turned whence they came. 

“All of which is respectfully submitted this April 


rege URS GT A 
JAMES E. HARRISON, 
JAMES BOURLAND, 
CHARLES A. HAMILTON, 
Commissioners, &c.” 
“In addition to the foregoing report we beg leave 
to state that Mr. J. A. Echols, from Waco, accom- 
panied us on our mission and rendered us important 
and efficient service. 
JAMES E. HARRISON, 
JAMES BOURLAND, 
CHARLES A. HAMILTON.” 
—Official Records of the Union and Confederate 
Armies, Series IV, Vol. I, pp. 322-25. 


APPENDIX XXIV—5. 


JOHN ROSS’ REPLY TO THE CONFEDERATE 
COMMISSIONER. 


Fort Smith, June 12, 1861. 
Hon. John Ross, 


Principal Chief Cherokee Nation. 

Sir: As Commissioner of Indian Affairs of the Con- 
federate States it was my intention to have called 
upon you and consulted as to the mutual interests 
of our people. Sickness has put it out of my power 
to travel, and those interests require immediate con- 
sideration and therefore I have determined to write 
and make what I think a plain statement of the 
case for your consideration, which I think stands 
thus: If we succeed in the South—succeed in this 
controversy, and I have no doubt of the fact, for we 
are daily gaining friends among the powers of Eu- 
rope, and our people are arming with unanimity 
scarcely ever seen in the world before—then your 
lands, your slaves, and your separate nationality are 
secured and made perpetual, and in addition nearly 
all your debts are in Southern bonds, and these we 
will also secure. If the North succeeds you will most 
certainly lose all. First your slaves they will take 
from you; that is one object of the war, to enable 
them to abolish slavery in such manner and at such 
time as they choose. Another, and perhaps the chief 
cause is to get upon your rich lands, and settle their 
squatters, who do not like to settle in slave States. 
They will settle upon your lands as fast as they 
choose and the Northern people will force their Gov- 
ernment to allow it. It is true they may allow your 
people small reserves—they give chiefs pretty large 
ones—but they will settle among you, overshadow 
you, and totally destroy the power of your chiefs 
and your nationality and then trade your people out 
of the residue of their lands. Go North among the 
once powerful tribes of that country and see if you 
can find Indians living and enjoying power and prop- 
erty and liberty as do your people and the neighbor- 
ing tribes from the South. If you can, then say I 
am a liar and the Northern States have been better 
to the Indisn than the Southern States. If you are 
obliged to admit the truth of what I say, then join 
us and preserve your people, their slaves, their vast 
possessions in lands, and their nationality. 

Another consideration is your debts, annuities, &c., 
school funds due you. Nearly all are in bonds of 


APPENDIX 


Southern States and held by the Government at Wash- 
ington, and these debts are nearly all forfeited al- 
ready by the act of war made upon the States by that 
Government. These we will secure you beyond ques- 
tion if you join us. If you join the North they are 
forever forfeited, and you have no right to believe 
that the Northern people would vote to pay you this 
forfeited debt. Admit that there may be some danger 
take which side you may, I think the danger tenfold 
greater to the Cherokee people if they take sides 
against us than for us. Neutrality will scarcely be 
possible. As long as your people retain their na- 
tional character your country cannot be abolitionized, 
and it is our interest therefore that you should 
hold your possessions in perpetuity. 

I have the honor to be, respectfully &c., your obe- 
dient servant, 


DAVID HUBBARD, 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 


Executive Department, Cherokee Nation, 
Park. Bill, dunes 17, 8615 
Hon. David Hubbard, 


Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Confederate States, 

Fort Smith, Ark. 

Sir: Your communication dated at, Fort Smith, 12th 
instant, has been received. The questions presented 
by you are of grave importance and I have given 
them the best consideration I am capable. As the 
result of my deliberations, allow me to say, with 
the highest respect for the Government you represent, 
that I feel constrained to adhere to the line of policy 
which I have heretofore pursued, and take no part 
in the unfortunate war between the United and Con- 
federate States of America. 

When you were one, happy, prosperous and friendly, 
as the United States, our treaties were made from 
time to time with your Government. Those treaties 
are contemporaneous with that Government, extend- 
ing from the Confederacy of the United States pre- 
vious to the adoption of the Constitution down to 
the present time. The first of them was negotiated 
at Hopewell in 1785 and the last at Washington in 
1846. Some of them were the result of choice, others 
of necessity. By their operations the Cherokees sur- 
rendered large and valuable tracts of lands to the 
States which compose an important part of your 
Government. They came to the country now occupied 
by them with the assurance from the Government 
of the United States that it should be their home and 
the home of their posterity. 

By the treaty of Hopewell, the Cherokees placed 
themselves under the protection of the United States 
of America and of no other sovereign whatever. By 
the treaty of Holston, 1791, the stipulation quoted was 
renewed and extended so as to declare that— 

The Cherokee Nation will not hold any treaty with 
any foreign power, individual State or with indivi- 
duals of any State. 

This stipulation has not been abrogated, and its 
binding force on the Cherokee Nation is as strong 
and imperative now as at any time since its adoption. 
I feel it to be so and am not willing to disregard it 
even at the present time. You are well aware that 
a violation of its letter and spirit would be tanta- 
mount to a declaration of hostility toward the Gov- 
ernment. There is no reason to doubt that it would 
be viewed in that light and so treated. There is no 
reason why we should wantonly assume such attitude 
and invoke upon our heads and upon the heads of 
our children the calamites of war between the United 
and Confederate States, nor do I think you should 
expect us without a sufficient cause. If our institu- 
tions, locality and long years of neighborly deport- 
ment and intercourse do not suffice to assure you 
of our friendship, no mere instrument of parchment 
can do it. We have no cause to doubt the entire 
good faith with which you would treat the Cherokee 
people; but neither have we any cause to make war 
against the United States, or to believe that our 
treaties will not be fulfilled and respected by that 
Government. At all events, a decent regard to good 
faith demands that we should not be the first to 
violate them. 

It is not the province of the Cherokees to deter- 
mine the character of the conflict going on in the 
States. It is their duty to keep themselves, if pos- 


—-_” ~ 


Principal Chief of 


JOHN 
the 


ROSS, 
Cherokee 


Nation, 


1828-66 


LIBRARY 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


APPENDIX 


sible, disentangled, and afford no grounds to either 
party to interfere with their rights. The obligations 
of every character, pecuniary and otherwise, which 
existed prior to the present state of affairs between 
the Cherokee Nation and the Government are equally 
valid now as then. If the Government owes us, I 
do not believe it will repudiate its debts. If the 
States embraced in the Confederacy owe us, I do 
not believe they will repudiate their debts. . I con- 
sider our annuity safe in either contingency. 

A comparison of Northern and Southern philan- 
thropy, as illustrated in their dealings toward the 
Indians within their respective limits, would not 
affect the merits of the question now under con- 
sideration, which is simply one of duty under exist- 
ing circumstances. I therefore pass it over, merely 
remarking that the “settled policy’’ of former years 
was a favorite one with both sections when extended 
to the acquisition of Indian lands, and that but few 
Indians now press their feet upon the banks of either 
the Ohio or the Tennessee. The conflict in which 
you are engaged will possibly be brought to a close 
by some satisfactory arrangement or other before 
proceeding to very active hostilities. If you re- 
main as one government our relations will continue 
unchanged; if you separate into two governments 
upon the sectional line, we will be connected with you; 
if left to the uncertain arbitrament of the sword, the 
party holding, succeeding to the reins of the General 
Government, will be responsible to us for the obliga- 
tions resting upon it. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servant, 

JNO. ROSS, 
Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation. 

—Official Records of the Union and Confederate 
Armies, Series I, Vol. XIII, pp. 497-99. 


APPENDIX XXIV—6. 


RESOLUTIONS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHICKASAW LEGIS- 
LATURE ASSEMBLED, MAY 25, 1861: | 


Whereas the Government of the United States has 
been broken up by the secession of a large number 
of States composing the Federal Union—that the dis- 
solution has been followed by war between the par- 
ties; and whereas the destruction of the Union as it 
existed by the Federal Constitution is irreparable, 
and consequently the Government of the United States 
as it was when the Chickasaw and other Indian na- 
tions formed alliances and treaties with it no longer 
exists; and whereas the Lincoln Government, pretend- 
ing to represent said Union, has shown by its course 
towards us, in withdrawing from our country the 
protection of the Federal troops, and withholding, un- 
justly and unlawfully, our money placed in the hands 
of the Government of the United States as trustee, to 
be applied for our benefit, a total disregard of treaty 
obligations toward us; and whereas our geographical 
position, our social and domestic institutions, our 
feelings and sympathies, all attach us to our South- 
ern friends, against whom is about to be waged a war 
of subjugation or extermination, of conquest and con- 
fiscation—a war which, if we can judge from the dec- 
larations of the political partisans of the Lincoln 
Government, will surpass the French Revolution in 
scenes of blood and that of San Domingo in atrocious 
horrors; and whereas it is impossible that the Chicka- 
saws, deprived of their money and destitute of all 
means of separate self-protection, can maintain neu- 
trality or escape the storm which is about to burst 
upon the South, but, on the contrary, would be 
suspected, oppressed, and plundered alternately by 
armed bands from the North, South, East, and West: 
and whereas we have an abiding confidence that all 
our rights—tribal and individual—secured to us under 
treaties with the United States, will be fully rec- 
ognized, guaranteed, and protected by our friends of 
the Confederate States; and whereas as a Southern 
people we consider their cause our own: Therefore, 

Be it resolved by the Chickasaw Legislature as- 
sembled, 

1st. That the dissolution of the Federal Union, 
under which the Government of the United States 
existed, has absolved the Chickasaws from allegiance 
to any foreign government whatever; that the cur- 
rent of the events of the last few months has left 
the Chickasaw Nation independent, the people there- 


danger 


831 


of free to form such alliances, and take such steps to 
secure their own safety, happiness, and future wel- 
fare as may to them seem best. 

2d. Resolved, That our neighboring Indian nations 
—Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Osages, 
Senecas, Quapaws, Comanches, Kiowas, together with 
the fragmentary bands of Delawares, Kickapoos, Cad- 
does, Wichitas, and others within the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw country who-are similarly situated with 
ourselves, be invited to codperate, in order to secure 
the independence of the Indian nations and the de- 
fense of the territory they inhabit from Northern 
invasion by the Lincoln hordes and Kansas robbers, 
who have plundered and oppressed our red brethren 
among them, and who doubtless would extend towards 
us the protection which the wolf gives to the lamb 
should they succeed in overrunning our country; that 
the Chickasaws pledge themselves to resist by all 
means and to the death any such invasion of the 
lands occupied by themselves or by any of the Indian 
nations; and that their country shall not be occupied 
or passed through by the Lincoln forces for the pur- 
pose of invading our neighbors, the States of Arkan- 
sas and Texas, but, on the contrary, any attempt to 
do so will be regarded as an act of war against our- 
selves, and should be resisted by all the Indian na- 
tions as insulting to themselves and tending to en- 
their Territorial rights. 

3d. Resolved, That it is expedient, at the very 
earliest day possible, that commissioners from other 
Indian nations for the purpose of forming a league 
or confederation among them for mutual safety and 
protection, and also to the Confederate States in 
order to enter into such alliance and to conclude 
such treaties as may be necessary to secure the rights, 
interests, and welfare of the Indian tribes, and that 
the codperation of all the Indian nations west of the 
State of Arkansas and south of Kansas be invited 
for the attainment of these objects. 

4th. Resolved, That the Chickasaws look with con- 
fidence especially to the Choctaws (whose interests 
are so closely interwoven with their own, and who 
were the first through their national council to de- 
clare their sympathy for, and their determination, 
in case of a permanent dissolution of the Federal 
Union, to adhere to the Southern States), and hope 
they will speedily unite with us in such measures 
as may be necessary for the defense of our common 
country and a union with our natural allies, the Con- 
federate States of America. 

5th. Resolved, That while the Chickasaw people en- 
tertain the most sincere friendship for the people of 
the neighboring States of Texas and Arkansas, and 
are deeply grateful for the prompt offer from them 
of assistance in all measures of defense necessary 
for the protection of our country against hostile in- 
vasion, we are desirous to hold undisputed possession 
of our lands and all forts and other places lately 
occupied ty the Federil troops and other officers 
and persons acting under the authority of the United 
States, and that the governor of the Chickasaw Nation 
be, and he is hereby, instructed to take immediate 
steps to obtain possession of all such forts and places 
within the Choctaw and Chickasaw country, and have 
the same garrisoned, if possible, by Chickasaw troops, 
or else by troops acting expressly under and by 
virtue of the authority of the Chickasaw or Choctaw 
nations, until such time as said forts, Indian agencies, 
etc., may be transferred by treaty to the Confederate 
States. 

6th. Resolved, That the governor of the Chickasaw 
Nation be, and he is hereby, instructed to issue his 
proclamation to the Chickasaw Nation, declaring their 
independence, and calling upon the Chickasaw war- 
riors to form themselves into volunteer companies of 
such strength and with such officers (to be chosen 
by themselves) as the governor may prescribe, to 
report themselves by filling their company rolls at 
the Chickasaw Agency, and to hold themselves, with 
the best arms and ammunition, together with a rea- 
sonable supply of provisions, in readiness at a min- 
ute’s warning to turn out, under the orders of the 
commanding general of the Chickasaws, for the de- 
fense of their country or to aid the civil authorities 
in the enforcement of the laws. 

7th. Resolved, That we have full faith and confi- 
dence in the justice of the cause in which we are em- 
barked, and that we appeal to the Chickasaw people 


832 


to be prepared to meet the conflict which will surely, 
and perhaps speedily, take place, and hereby call 
upon every man capable of bearing arms to be ready 
to defend his home and family, his country and his 
property, and to render prompt obedience to all orders 
from the officers set over them. 

9th [8th]. Resolved, That the governor cause these 
resolutions to be published in the National Register, 
at Boggy Depot, and copies thereof sent to the 
several Indian nations, to the governors of the ad- 
jacent States, to the President of the Confederate 
States, and to Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
Black Republican party. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 25, 1865 


[1861]. 
A. ALEXANAN, 
Speaker House Representatives. 
Attest: C. CARTER, 
Clerk House Representatives. 


Passed the Senate. 
JOHN E. ANDERSON, 


President of Senate. 

Attest: JAMES N. McLISH, 

Clerk of Senate. 

Approved, Tishomingo, May 25, 1861. 

C. HARRIS, 

Governor. 

—Official Records of the Union and Confederate 

Armies, Series I, Vol. III, pp. 585-87. 


APPENDIX XXV—Il1. 
ACTIVITIES OF THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE, 


Rev. John Edwards, missionary to the Choctaws 
from 1851 to 1861, in his “An Account of my Escape 
from the South in 1861,” wrote as follows: 

“An unmarried missionary named Wentz had been 
first a teacher in the Creek Nation, and afterwards at 
Spencer Academy. In the summer of 1860 he had gone 
where his parents lived in the State of New York, 
under an engagement with his brother, each to put 
in $300.00, and so buy their aged parents a home. The 
brother failed to fulfill his part of the engagement. 
The question with Mr. Wentz was then how he could 
best make up the necessary amount himself. 

“That year he was appointed by the Board of Foreign 
Missions to be Superintendent of Iyanubi Female Semi- 
nary, a boarding school of twenty girls supported prin- 
cipally by the Choctaw Nation, and in small part by 
the board. He was fond of machinery. While at Cin- 
cinnati, on his way back to the Choctaw country, 
meditating, as he constantly was, on the question that 
was before him as to his parents, he passed a gun 
store. It flashed upon him that revolvers would sell 
well in the Nation. So he invested his $300.00 in 
revolving pistols and carbines, put them in lis trunk, 
put on a Bell and Everett Medal, and made the trip 
to his new home. He put most of them in the hands 
of Mr. John F. Kingsbury [son of Rev. Cyrus Kings- 
bury], 2 merchant at Doaksville, to sell for him but 
kept a few to dispose of himself. He concealed the 
matter from the rest of the missionaries, as far as he 
could, 

“In the late winter or early spring he was discharged 
by the Board from his position as Superintendent of the 
School. On leaving he went to Wheelock and spent a 
couple of weeks in my home. While there he repaired 
my watch for me. Thence he went to Spencer Acad- 
emy. 

“On Saturday May 11th, he went to Doaksville. In 
some way the rough fellows about the town learned 
that Kingsbury had some revolvers belonging to 
Wentz. After he had left on his return, they went to 
Kingsbury and demanded them of him. They then pur- 
sued Wentz, overtook him about a mile from town, 
brought him back, and fired revolvers about his ears. 
He stood up to them and told them if they wanted to 
kill him to go ahead. He was ready to die as he 
expected to do [sometime]. But they let him go, and 
he returned to Spencer. The news soon reached Texas. 
On Tuesday May 14, a company of whites came over 
with a rope to hang him. Taking with them some 
half-breed Choctaws from Doaksville they went to 
Spencer. Mr. Reid [Rev. Alexander Reid] informed 
them that Wentz had left that morning. The whites 
were disposed to doubt his statement, supposing Mr. 
Wentz to be concealed somewhere there. 


Sim Fol-. 


APPENDIX 


som, a Choctaw, said to them, ‘Gentlemen, you must 
not doubt Mr. Reid’s word.’ 

“They wanted to know of Mr. Reid what he would 
do in case of the war coming into that region of the 
country. The reply was, ‘I would take my family and 
go to a place of safety, if I could find one. I never 
shot a gun in my life, and I do not know that I could 
do it (He was very near sighted.) On Thursday, 
May 16, I received a visit from Capt. S. H. Caudle and 
a Mr. Hailey of Red River County, Texas, accompanied 
by a Mr. Howell, a white man who had married a 


half-breed Choctaw, and who lived on the border of 


Red River in the Choctaw Nation, opposite to that 
county. Whether there were others of the company 
or not, I do not know, I saw no others. The previous 


=o 


winter I had gone over into Texas to buy corn to feed — 


the starving Choctaws. 
Capt. Caudle had heard I was there, and had run his 
horse to Albion to get there before I should cross, on 
my return, in order to compel me to drink with him, 


I afterwards learned that © 


He was too late, but had he reached there in season ~ 


I think he would have had an interesting time in 


accomplishing his purpose. 
* * * * * * * * 


“They told me that they wished to search my prem- 


ises for revclvers. Said I, ‘Gentlemen, you are wel- 
come to search to your heart’s content. 
beforehand what you will find in the way of weapons. 
You will find three butcher knives, one old one and 
two new ores which were sent me from Memphis not 
long since.’ i 

“They asked me to open some boxes that were there. 
I did so. They contained Choctaw books. They looked 
in my desk. They examined the bedroom over my 
study, and the bedroom on one side of it. They went 
into the house. In our family room they found George 
[Mr. Edward’s little son] with an eruption on his face. 
Capt. Caudle inquired what was the matter with him. 
I replied that I supposec he had the measles. 
was too much for him. He never had the disease, and 
therefore was not willing to expose himself to it. 
left the others to do the searching there. They found 


a trunk locked, tried it and inquired what was in it. 
‘You will have to wait — 
They | 


‘Really I do not know,’ I said. 
till my wife comes home as she had the key.’ 
opened the drawer of the kitchen table and there saw 
the three butcher knives. They went upstairs and 


felt in some boxes of clothing which had been sent to 


us from Dr. Boardman’s church, Philadelphia (the 


Tenth Presbyterian), for the destitute Choctaws, but — 


which, not having arrived till late in March, we were 
keeping to give out to the Choctaws the next winter. 


(Crops almost completely failed in 1860, and they were — 


Se far as they went, 
in closets and 


on the verge of starvation.) 
they made a quite thorough search, 
cellar, etc. 
is another room upstairs (by another stairway) which 
you may have not seen; and there are several cabins 
around. 
they said, ‘We are satisfied.’ They told me that if I 
had a revolver or a gun, or both, that would have been 
nothing out of the way. 

“Going back to the study, they wanted to know my 
sentiments. 
the subject of slavery, I proceeded to given them to 
them. Some time previous I had received by mail two 
pamphlets published and sent out by ‘The 1860 Asso- 
ciaticn of Charleston, S. C.,’ one discussing the sub- 
ject of slavery, and the other that of the right of 
secession. In the former were extensive quotations 
from a Thanksgiving sermon preached by the Rev. 
Henry J. Van Dyke, D. D., in Brooklyn in 1860. In 
this he quoted largely from the action of the Pres- 
byterian Assembly in 1818. I read to them from that 
document. Of course coming from Charleston they 
could raise no objection to it. 

“After listening for a while, : 
rupted me by saying: ‘Mr. Edwards, we don’t think 
you are an abolitionist. If we did we’d swing you. 


What we want to know is your sentiments on the — 


public questions of the day.’ 


I can tell you © 


That® 
He — 


As we passed out, I said to them, ‘Here — 


You are welcome to search them all.’ ‘No,’ 


Supposing they wanted my sentiments on 


Capt. Caudle inter- 


fe er gE CS Caer Se ER ae 


aps 


“Supposing that the free soil question was the great — 


question, I proceeded to give my views on that. I 
stated that I believed the Republicans were right as 
to the constitutional power of Congress over the ques- 
tion of slavery in the territories; that John C. Cal- 


APPENDIX 


houn had given that as his view; and that Jefferson 
Davis had held the same view ten years before, when 
he advocated the extension of the Missouri Compromise 
line to the Pacific. But while holding that view, my 
plan would be to leave the whole question to the peo- 
ple of the territories, provided there should be no 
usurpation. Understanding me to have referred to 
Thomas Jefferson, the Captain remarked that he was 
too far back. He wanted to know what I thought 
ot the present troubles of the Country and the 
ar. 

“I told him I did not believe in the right of Seces- 
sion, and that the government had given them no 
cause for rebellion; and therefore I could not take 
their side in the War. Had there been any justify- 
ing cause for the war by any invasion of the rights 
of the South on the part of the government, I would 
be with them. But there clearly was none. I there- 
fore could not favor their side. The details of the 
conversation that passed between us have passed from 
my memory. Finally, the question was put to me, 
whether I would pledge myself, in case the War came 
into that region of the country, to take arms for the 
South. ‘Gentlemen,’ I said, ‘You might as well as ask 
me to strike my Mother. I was born in the North; 
my friends and kindred are still living there; I do 
not believe the Southern states have a right to secede, 
nor that the government has given them any cause to 
rebel. What I wish to do is to stay here quietly and 
go on with my work for the Choctaws, not taking 
part in the war on either side. I am willing to give 
you my pledge to do nothing against you, and to 
abide by that to the death. Beyond that my con- 
science will not let me do.’ 

“The crisis was reached. They went out and con- 
sulted. Returning, Capt. Caudle asked me how long a 
time I wanted to get ready to leave. I replied that in 
the feeble state of my wife’s health, I thought I ought 
to have at least a month. He answered, ‘It would be 
a cruelty to compel a feeble lady to travel in this hot 
weather; but get ready to leave as soon as you Can.’ 

“They were through with me. * * * 

* * * * * * * * 

“Things went on as usual for nearly three weeks. 
On the Ist and 2nd of June we had a big meeting. 
Saturday night and Sunday we had the privilege of 
entertaining the Principal Chief, George Hudson, and 
Peter P. Pitchlynn, who were on their way to Doaks- 
ville to a special meeting of the General Council, which 
the Chief had called for the following Monday. He 
went to it with his message prepared recommending 
neutrality. He said it was none of their fight. I 
afterward learned that he was compelled by a vigi- 
lance committee to change it recommending the Choc- 
taws to join the South. I know not the composition 
of that committee, whether it was of whites or of 
half-breed Choctaws or both. The people of the ad- 
joining states, Arkansas and Texas, told the Choctaws 
that if they did not join them they would exterminate 
them. The government troops having been withdrawn, 
situated as the Choctaws were right in the corner be- 
tween those two states, they were completely in their 
power, and of course were compelled to yield to their 
dictation. They passed laws, as I afterward learned, 
assuming jurisdiction over all whites among them and 
requiring all between 15 and 55 years of age to join 
the militia, and all over 55 to join the home guards. 
(I may err as to figures.) 

“On Thursday afternoon I learned that on Wednes- 
day a public meeting had been held at Doaksville, the 
capital, at which Capt. Jones, the wealthiest Choctaw, 
took the ground that ‘every man that was not with 
them must be hung up to the first limb between 
heaven and hell.’ I immediately concluded that if so 
moderate a man as he could make such a speech as 
that, it was of no use for me to try to remain. So 
I mounted my pony and started out to sell the cattle. 
I met with no success.” 

* * * * * * * * 

Mr. Edwards was granted the following passports, 
upon leaving the Choctaw Nation: 

“Choctaw Nation: To whom it may concern. 

Executive Office: Greeting: ‘ . 

“Be it known that I, George Hudson, Principal Chief 
of the Choctaw Nation, do hereby grant a passport 


Okla—53 


833 


and safe conduct to Rev. John Edwards and his fam- 
ily, on his journey out of the Choctaw Nation, and 
hereby enjoin and require all Choctaws or others with- 
in the Choctaw Nation to allow Mr. Edwards and fam- 
ily to proceed in peace and without hindrance or 
molestation. 

“I further certify that the said Rev. John Edwards 
‘has given satisfactory assurance that he is not an 
abolitionist and not even a free soiler. 

“TI further request all civil and military authorities 
within the southern states to give free passage and 
safe conduct to Rev. John Edwards and his family. 

“I would also add that Mr. Edwards goes to the 
Ng to visit his relatives and for the health of his 
wife. 

“Given under my hand and seal at Doaksville, this 
6th day of June A. D. 1861. 

GEORGE HUDSON (Seal) 
: Principal Chief. C. N. 

“T certify that the foregoing passport was signed by 
Col. George Hudson, Principal Chief of the Choctaw 
Nation, and I also join in the same. 

DOUGLAS H. COOPER, 
Colt Gi S.vArmy:” 


Evans Oth _“Doaksville, C. N., June 5, 1861.” 
This is to certify that we have known the bearer, 


’ the Rev. John Edwards for the past ten years. He 


is a Presbyterian Minister and has- been laboring 
among the Choctaws as Pastor of the Church at 
Wheelock. We can certify that he is in no way 
tinctured with abolition sentiments, but on the con- 
trary has been a strong opposer of everything of that 
kind. He is about to leave us on his way to Little 
Rock, and we take pleasure in bearing testimony to 
his character as a gentleman and a minister. We rec- 
ommend him to our friends and to the community 
through which he may chance to pass. 
R. M. JONES.” 


Mr. Edwards continued with the detailed account 
of his escape from the Choctaw Nation. Of his ar- 
rival at Louisville, Kentucky, he wrote: ‘Next morn- 
ing we took the train for Louisville. Among the pas- 
sengers were Confederate officers. One of them most 
bitterly denounced Louisville, because the City had 
‘voted for coercion.’ He said it ought to be razed, 
utterly destroyed. At the Kentucky line, we found 
Confederate soldiers encamped. Night had already 
come on when we reached Bowling Green. There we 
first saw the stars and stripes floating in the breeze. 
Ah! but that flag did look good. Never before had it 
looked so good as then, when for some weeks we had 
seen only the stars and bars. It has never since lost 
the value which attached to it then. We felt free. 
We could speak above a whisper. Miss McBeth [and 
Mrs. Edwards] were out doing some shopping. They 
came to a large flag hanging over the street. ‘Stop 
Sue,’ said Mrs. E., ‘Let us get a breath wafted by that 
glorious old flag.’ ‘Come,’ said Miss M., ‘don’t you 
see those men watching us?’ ‘I don’t care for men or 
mortal where that flag does float,’ was the reply. 

* * * * * * * * 

“Arriving in Bath [New York], we were most cordi- 
ally welcomed by Mother and brothers and sisters and 
their families. That day a letter came which I had 
left unfinished when I fled from Wheelock. Mrs. E. 
[who followed her husband, joining him en route] had 
added to, it, ‘John has fled and I am proud of him,’ 
and mailed it. It was the last mail communication 
for four years. Mr. Libby was compelled to enter 
the rebel army. He was mostly employed about 
the wagon train service. Sometimes he had to go 
into the ranks and fight. But he said that no Union 
soldier was ever harmed by a bullet from his gun. 
After the War was over he died at Wheelock. A 
very kind Providence watched over me and mine, and 
ordered things very greatly for our good. Forever be 
praised God’s name. 

“About thirty years later, being at Sulphur Springs 
(Alikchi) in the Choctaw Country [in what is now 
McCurtain County, Oklahoma], I saw a tall man en- 
camped there, evidently in poor health. I thought I 
would call to see him but was otherwise so occupied 
that I was nearly ready to return without having done 


834 


so when I heard Alec Durant, with whom I was stop- 
ping, speak of Col. Caudle. ‘Col. Caudle,’ said I, ‘Is 
that J. H. Caudle?” ‘I don’t know his initials, but they 
call him Caudle.’ ‘Well,’ said I, ‘I am going to see 
him.’ 

“T found my old friend of the vigilance committee. 
We had a long talk over rratters. He was glad the 
war was over, glad it ended as it did, glad that the 
slaves were free. He had fought through it as a 
Colonel of a Texas regiment. During the Banks ex- 
pedition up Red River, he had been ordered to take 
a certain position with his regiment and hold it at 
all hazards. He went into it with his regiment 450 
strong. They cut their way out with forty. Such 
is war. I told him if our affairs were to be gone over 
again, I didn’t know whether I would have the grit 
to tell him what I did. He asked me what it was. 
When I told of my saying, ‘You might as well ask 
me to strike my Mother, etc.,’ he replied, ‘I give you 
credit for acting in a very manly way with us.’ ”— 
From a manuscript copy of Rev. John Edwards’ “An 
Account of my Escape from the South in 1861,” in the 
hands of the writer (M. H. W.). 


APPENDIX XXV—2. 
REPORT OF S. ORLANDO LEE. 


* * * Thus matters stood when Col. Pitchlynn 
the resident Com. of the Choctaws at Washington 
returned home. He gave all his influence to have the 
Choctaws take a neutral position. The chief had called 
the council to meet June list. & Col. P. so far suc- 
ceeded as to induce him to prepare a message recom- 
mending neutrality. Col. P. was promptly reported 
as an abolitionist and visited & threatened by a Texas 
Vigilance committee. 

The Council met at Doaksville seven miles from Red 
River & of course from Texas. It was largely attended 
by white men from Texas our Choctaw neighbors who 
attended said the place was full of white men. 

The Council did not organize until June 4th or 5th 
(I forgot which) In the meanwhile the white men & 
half bloods had a secession meeting when it leaked 
out through Col. Cooper that_the Chief Hudson had 
prepared a message recommending neutrality at which 
Robert M. Jones was so indignant that he made a 
furious speech in which he declared that “any one 
who opposed secession ought to be hung” “and any 
suspicious persons ought to be hung.” Hudson was 
frightened and when the Council was organized sent 
in a message recommending that commissioners be 
appointed to negotiate a treaty with the Confederates 
and that in the meantime a regiment be organized 
under Col. Cooper for the Confed. army. 

This was finally done but not for a week for the 
Choctaws were reluctant. They feared that their 
action would result in the destruction of the nation. 
Said Joseph P. Folsom, a member of the council & a 
graduate of Dartmouth College New Hampshire, “We 
are choosing in what way we shall die’ Judge Wade 
said to me. “We expect that the Choctaws will be 
buried. That is what we think will be the end of 
this.” Judge W. is a member of the Senate (for the 
Choctaw Council is composed of a Senate & lower 
house chosen by the people in districts & the con- 
stitution is modeled very much after those of the 
states.) & he has been a chief. Others said to me 
“Tf the north was here so we could be protected we 
would stand up for the north but now if we do not 
go in for the south the Texans will come over and 
kill us.’”’ Mr. Reid told me a day or two before we 
left that he had become convinced during a trip for 
two or three days through the country that the full 
bloods were strongly for the north. I am sure it was 
so then & it was the opinion of the missionaries that 
if we had all taken the position, that we would not 
leave, some of us had been warned to do so by Texan 
vigilance committees, we could have raised a thousand 
men who would have armed in our defence—Our older 
brethren told us that this would hasten the destruc- 
tion of the indians as they would be crushed before 
any help could come.—We thought this would prob- 
ably be the case and the missionaries who were most 
strongly union in sentiment left. 

One of the number Rev. John Edwards had been 
hiding for his life from Texan & half blood ruffians 


APPENDIX 


for two weeks & we at Spencer had had the honor to 
be visited by a Texas committee searching for arms. 

I continue my narrative from a letter from one of 
our teachers who was detained when we left by the 
illness of his wife & who left Spencer Sept 5th & 
the Nation Sept. 9th. He says Col. Coopers regiment 
was filled up with Texans “The haif breeds after in- 
volving the full bloods in the war have rather drawn 
back themselves and but few of them have enlisted 
& gone to the war.” This indicates that the full bloods 
have at Jast yielded to the pressure and joined the 
rebels. The missionaries who remained would gen- 
erally advise them to do this. 

The Choctaw commissioners met Albert Pike rebel 
commissioner & made a treaty with him, with refer- 
ence to this he says “The Choctaws rec’d quite a 
bundle of promises from the rebel government. Their 
treaty gives their representative a seat in the rebel 
congress, acknowledges the right of the Choctaws 
to give testimony in all courts in the C. S, exempts 
them from the expenses of the war, their soldiers 
are to be paid 20$ a month by the C. S. during the 
war, the C. S. assume the debts due the Choctaws 
by the U. S., they have the privilege of coming in as 
a state into the Confederacy with equal rights if 
they wish it, or remain as they are, the C. S. to 
sustain their schools after the war, they guarantee 
them against all intrusion on their lands by white 
men, allow them to garrison the forts in their terri- 
tory with their own troops if they wish it said troops 
to be paid by the C. S.’’—Here is a list of promises 
and when I think of these, of the belief of their oldest 
missionaries in the final success of the rebels, of the 
fact that all the old Officers of the U. S. government 
were in the service of the rebels, of the occupation 
of the forts there by rebels, of the activity of a knot 
of bitter disunionists led by Capt. Jones, who has long 
been a very influential man, of the Texas mob law 
which considered it a crime for a young man to refuse 
to volunteer, of the fact that there was no way for 
them to hear the truth as to the designs of the U. 
S. government concerning them, except through Col. 
Pitchlynn who was soon silenced & of the falsehoods 
told them as to the designs of the Government, I do 
not wonder that they have joined the rebels. 

I saw strong men completely unmanned even to 
floods of tears by the leaving of Dr. Hobbs and the 
thoughts of what was before them. I heard men say 
nae! Wes. not want to fight but expected to be forced 
o do it. 

I trust the government will consider the circum- 
stances of the case & deal gently, considerately with 
the indians. I do not like to write such things of my 
brother missionaries but they are I believe facts & 
though I love some of them very much I still must 
say that, except Rev. Mr. Byington who was doubtful 
& Rev. Mr. Ballantine a missionary to the Chickasaws 
who was union, all the ordained missionaries belong- 
ing to the Choctaw & Chickasaw Mission of the Pres- 
byterian Board who remain there were victims of the 
madness which swept over the South, were secession- 
ists—One cr two of the three Laymen who remained 
were union men—Cyrus Kingsbury son of Rev. Dr. K. 
being one. * * * -—DLetter found in United States 
Office of Indian Affairs, General Files, Southern Super- 
intendency, 1859-62, 1863; quoted by Annie Heloise 
Abel in “The Indian as Slaveholder and Secession- 
ist. pps ii=29. 


APPENDIX XXV—3. 


OPOTHLEYAHOLA’S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE 
CONFEDERATE ALLIANCE. 


Opothleyehola (the English spelling of the Creek 
name of Hu-pui-hilth Yohola) had been prominent in 
the affairs of the Creek tribe for forty years or more 
before the outbreak of the Civil War. He was prob- 
ably born about 1800 and is believed to have seen 
service in active warfare against the whites as early 
as the War of 1812. Like John Ross, of the Cherokee 
Nation, he was bitterly opposed to the removal of his 
people to the West. Indeed, it is not improbable that 
his sentiment of attachment to the Federal Union at 
the outbreak of the Civil War was prompted by his 
resentment and suspicion toward the people of certain 
States of the South, whor he blamed for forcing the 


OPOTHLEYAHOLA, THE GREAT CREEK LEADER 


LIBRARY, 2B 
. —\OFPTRESS © Silas 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS” 


APPENDIX 


Creeks to leave their ancient homes and move to the 
new country west of the Mississippi. 

On one cccasion during the International Council 
held at North Fork in November, 1859, Opothleyahola 
delivered an impressive address favoring education for 
the young people of his nation. Unlike most of the 
delegates present, he did not dress after the manner 
of a white man. His form was draped in a blanket 
which hung as gracefully as the toga of a Roman 
senator. <A bright colored shawl encircled his head 
like a turban. He was a man of large frame and 
imposing presence and, as an orator, was said to have 
had but few equals and no superiors among his own 
people. He was unlettered and could speak only in 
the tongue of the Muscogees, so his speech had to be 
interpreted into the Cherokee, Choctaw, and English 
languages, in order that all present might understand 
it. Opothleyahola said in part: 

“My brothers, many, many years ago, when I was 
a child, there was a beautiful island in the Chatta- 
hoochee River. It was covered with stately trees and 
carpeted with green grass. When the Indian was 
hungry and could not find game elsewhere, he could 
always go to that island and kill a deer. An un- 
written law forbade the killing of more than one deer, 
and, even then, the hunter might resort to the island 
only when he had failed elsewhere. But the banks of 
that island were of sandy soil. As the-floods of the 
river rolled on this side and on that, the banks wore 
away and the island shrunk jin size. When our peo- 
ple left the country, the island had become so small 
that there was only room for two or three of the 
great trees and most of the green grass was gone. 
The deer, once so plentiful there, had entirely dis- 
appeared. 

“T have since learned that there is a kind of grass 
which, if it had been planted on the banks of that 
beautiful island, might have saved it. This grass 
strikes its roots deeply into the sandy soil and binds 
it so firmly that the waters of the flood cannot wear 
it away. 

‘My brothers, we Indians are like that island in the 
middle of the river. The white man comes upon us 
as a flood. We crumble and fall, even as the sandy 
banks of that beautiful island in the Chattahoochee. 
The Great Spirit knows, as you know, that I would 
stay that flood, which comes thus to wear us away, 
if it could. As well might we try to push back the 
flood of the river itself. 

“As the island in the river might have been saved 
by planting the long-rooted grass upon its banks, so 
let us save our people by educating our boys and girls 
and our young men and young women in the ways of 
the white ran. Then they may be planted and deeply 
rooted about us and our people may stand unmoved 
in the fiood of the white men.” 

As Opothleyahola had opposed McIntosh and the ad- 
vocates of removal treaties thirty years before, so he 
now opposed the champions of all alliance with the 
Confederacy. Although he was an old man at that 
time, he was still very active and was possessed of a 
personal magnetism and a capacity for leadership 
which gave him great influence and power among his 
people. He was probably amazed at the change of 
front on the part of Chief Ross in abandoning the 
policy of neutrality and openly espousing the cause 
of the seceding states. When he received the formal 
letter from Ross announcing this course, he returned 
it after having directed (for he could not write) that 
the question as to whether Ross was really its author, 
should be written on the back of the communication. 
The Cherokee authorities thereupon sent Joseph Vann, 
who was second chief, to personally intercede with 
Opothleyahola in behalf of a united front by all the 
tribes for the Confederacy. Opothleyahola greeted 
Vann as a friend but refused to enter into the dis- 
cussion of a matter upon which, as he said, he had 
already made up his mind. He said that he realized 
the futility of opposing the Federal Government be- 
cause, in the end, it would triumph. He said also that 
his opposition to the proposed war against the Union 
was not based upon his animosity toward the faction 
(the McIntosh Party) to which he had so long been 
opposed and which was lined up on the side of the 
Confederacy; that it was based upon principle and 
that, under no circumstances, could he be induced to 


835 


consider such an alliance. He concluded by stating 
that it was his purpose to take his followers to Kan- 
sas and throw them and himself upon the bounties of 
the General Government. This, he subsequently at- 
tempted to do, but was attacked by the Confederate 
forces before he succeeded in getting beyond the bor- 
ders of the Indian Territory. Opothleyahola died in 
exile, at the Sac and Fox Agency, Quenemo, Osage 
County, Kansas, in 1862. The story of Opothleyahola’s 
speech at the North Fork council was told the writer 
(J. B. T.) by Rev. Joseph S. Murrow, who, as a mis- 
sionary to the Creeks, was present at the council. 


APPENDIX XXVI—1. 
TANDY WALKER’S LETTER. 


Adjutant General’s Office, Choctaw Nation, 
Scullyville, August 1, 1861. 
His Excellency Jefferson Davis, 
President of the Confederate States. 

Sir:—I have the honor to inform you that the regi- 
ment of mounted rifles, authorized for the service of 
the Confederate States from among the Choctaws and 
Chickasaws, has been raised and is now fully organ- 
ized according to law. When supplied with arms, I 
can justly state no more ardent, efficient and patriotic 
body of warriors will be found under the banner of 
Southern independence. 

It is an unkind and certainly incorrect statement, 
made by some Southern journals, that the Indian war- 
riors design using the scalping knife in any conflict 
in which they may be engaged with the enemy. These 
warriors are a civilized people, are Christian in prin- 
ciples, observe the army regulations, drill with com- 
mendable closeness and will show, when the proper 
occasion offers, that they are worthy of the age, the 
panes and the brotherhood they share with their white 
allies. 

There are two Choctaw and one Chickasaw com- 
panies organized, besides the number authorized, that 
are very anxious to enter the service. I learn there 
will shortly be organized one Choctaw and one Chicka- 
ao company more, expecting to be called into the 

eld. 

Five additional companies can be raised in the two 
nations. It is presumed that the failure of the Chero- 
kees to furnish the regiment asked of them will insure 
the Choctaws and Chickasaws a chance to supply that 
deficiency to the extent of a battalion of three to five 
companies, if not an entire regiment. Such an order 
from the War Department would be eminently just 
to our Chickasaw brethren, because, for good reasons, 
they have been enabled to furnish only about twenty 
men to the first regiment. I believe the men who 
would answer another call would enter the service till 
the close of the war and, if necessary, could be armed 
at home with shotguns and old pattern rifles to the 
number of five hundred. More than half the number 
have Colt’s six shooters. This portion of our people, 
being whut are termed half-breeds, most all speak the 
English language and have better horses and more 
arms than the full-bloods, who comprise most of those 
already in the service. I would urge upon your ex- 
cellency a further call for warriors among the two 
nations. It would allay a disappointment and rivalry 
toward the Choctaws, now apparent among the Chicka- 
saws, to allow them to furnish two or three com- 
panies to the service, and strengthen the many rela- 
tions destiny has affixed to the contiguity of soil and 
the similarity of interests of the Southerners and the 
Indians of the South. 

In view of an anticipated call for warriors, it af- 
fords me great pleasure to testify to your excellency 
the propriety of giving the command of them to Jose- 
phus Dotson, Esq., of Fort Smith, Arkansas. His high 
standing among the leaders of both the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw people and his service for seven years as 
legal adviser, political sympathizer and _ steadfast 
friend, is fully attested by the recommendations from 
the principal national authorities of both nations, 
asking his appointment to the lieutenant-colonelcy of 
the regiment now in the service, which are now on 
file in the War Office in Richmond. 

I ask the appointment of Mr. Dotson, knowing the 
brave men among us, so eager for the field, would 
rally around him with increased enthusiasm and be- 


836 


lieving that he would lead them at any hour with 
credit to the Confederacy. I learn Mr. Dotson designs 
aiding in the organization of all the men capable of 
bearing arms, in anticipation of further demand. 

I have the honor to be, your excellency’s obedient 


servant, 
TANDY WALKER. 
Adjutant General Army Choctaw Nation. 
—Official Records, Series I, Vol. III, pp. 625-26. 


APPENDIX XXVI—2. 


PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF CAPTAIN JUNE 
PEAK, 


Personal reminiscences of those who participated in 
the campaign against Opothleyahola, other than the 
official records, are rare. Some of the experiences of 
Captain June Peak, of Dallas, Texas, as told to W. S. 
Adair, appeared in print in 1923. Captain Peak at the 
age of sixteen joined the Texas volunteers organized 
by Colonel William C. Young, of Sherman, and took 
part in the capture of Fort Washita in 1861. Some 
weeks later he joined one of the Texas companies that 
became a part of Colonel Cooper’s regiment, remain- 
ing for a year in the Confederate service in the Indian 
Territory. After the Civil War, he served as a captain 
of the Texas Rangers for some years. While there 
are a number of evident errors in Captain Peak’s story, 
which must be taken into consideration in giving it 
historical credence, yet his reminiscences of his ex- 
perience at the Battle of Round Mountain might not 
be out of place. Of this engagement, Captain Peak 
related the following: 

“After two or three months of preparation, Col. 
Cooper moved his command up to Dwight’s Mission, 
southwest of Fort Gibson. [An error. Dwight Mission 
is east of Fort Gibson. Cooper’s camp was at Con- 
charta, not far from Asbury Mission of the Creeks, 
southwest of Fort Gibson.] Col. Watie’s regiment was 
on the Arkansas River, near the mouth of the Verdi- 
gris, and Col. McIntosh’s on the Old Creek Council 
grounds. About this time rumors began to come in 
of large concentrations in the northwest of the Osages 
and renegades from all tribes. With a view of ascer- 
taining the purpose and strength of these gatherings, 
Col. Cooper dispatched a scout of twenty picked men 
from all the regiments, including myself and Jerome 
Kearby, under the command of Major John Clark, an 
old surveyor, well-known to and popular with the 
western tribes. 

“Our scout leaving camp about Sept. 1, marched 
along the banks of the Arkansas River for several 
hundred miles, as far as the Big Bend, but hearing of 
no very large muster of forces. At Big Bend we 
turned south, and after that began to see larger bands 
of Indians. In the course of several days, our scouts 
brought in reports of a large force that was being 
organized at a point several days’ ride to the south- 
west by Hu-pui-hilth Yohola, an Osage [a Creek], 
whom we called for short Opothyola. After taking due 
precaution Major Clark marched into the Osage coun- 
try, under pretense of being in search of the Kicka- 
poos and Lipans, who, it was rumored, were on the 
point of leaving for Mexico, in order to avoid the com- 
plications of the Civil War. We were very courte- 
ously received and pleasantly entertained, though we 
were not fooling Opothyola. 

“Our scout then reported to Col. Cooper who, at the 
head of a force of 2,800 men, immediately marched 
against Opothyola, with the determination of nipping 
in the bud any opposition on the part of the South- 
western Indians to the Southern Confederacy. In the 
meantime, Opothyola, who was by no means destitute 
of scouts, kept himself informed as to our movements 
and he came to meet us. We met early one morning 
in October [November 19], at Round Mountain. The 
day was spent in skirmishing, without any losses or 
advantage to speak of on either side. We went into 
camp for the night on a level prairie, covered with 
sedge grass waist high, beginning to dry considerably. 
Making a corral of our wagons, we placed our stock 
within it. 

“We retired with the understanding that the battle 
would begin early in the morning. It was a serene 
night. At 1 o’clock we all of one accord leaped to 
our feet. The prairie was on fire in hundreds of places 


APPENDIX 


around us, and a fierce wind which had sprung up was 
carrying wisps of blazing grass hundreds of yards and 
starting new fires. The weird beauty of the landscape 
revealed by the widespreading conflagration was per- 
haps not wlolly lost on even the most fearful of our 
panic-stricken train. Our poor mules gave vent to 


their distress in sounds that seemed to be compounded ~ 


of bray, bellow and squeal. In our efforts to save our 
wagons and teams we had no leisure to return the fire 
of the enemy who were raining bullets and arrows 
into our confused rout. 

“We abardoned the whole of our provisions, and 
left in our wake a dozen or so wagons, scores of mules, 
and fifteen or twenty dead and wounded men. Fortu- 
nately for us, Opothyola did not follow up his advan- 
tage. We were more than two hours in getting out 
of the fire, but once out, we did not loiter on our 
way back to Dwight’s Mission.” 


“Civil War Repeated in Indian Territory,” by Ww. S. 


Adair, appearing in the Dallas “Morning News,” July 


1, 1923. 
APPENDIX XXVI—3. 


ADDRESS OF CHIEF JOHN ROSS. 


“The address of John Ross, principal chief of the 
Cherokee nation, delivered at Fort Gibson to John 
Drew’s regiment of Cherokees, on the occasion of the 
defection of the regiments on the eve of a battle with 
Opothleyahola, the leader, of the non-conforming 
Creeks, 19th December, 1862 [1861] written out the 
day following by myself, and believed to be exactly 
correct—Hercules Martin interpreting. 

“Fellow-citizens, soldiers and friends: I appear be- 
fore you this evening for the purpose of making a few 
remarks, previous to introducing your friend Col. 
Cooper, the commander of the Confederate forces in 
the Indian country, who intends to address you. A 
few nights ago I had occasion to address some of you 
on avery strange and extraordinary occasion, and now 
that you are nearly all present, I will necessarily have 
to repeat much of what I then said. I then told you 
of the difficulty caused in the nation by the disruption 
of the United States, 
neighboring States and tribes in joining the southern 
Confederacy, 
matters of equal interest, that had made it necessary 
for us to call a convention of the Cherokee people. 

“This convention was held and numerously attended 
by the people, so that the acts of the convention were 
really acts of the whole people. At that convention, it 
was agreed on that all the distinctions of color should 
cease among the Cherokees forever, and that the half- 
blood Cherokee should have the same rights and 
privileges with the full-blood Cherokee, and the full- 
blood have the same rights and privileges as their 
white-skinned brethren, and that the whole were to 
be a united people. It was also agreed on that for 
the interests of the nation our relations with the 
United States should cease, or be changed, for the 
reason I have stated, and a treaty be made with the 
South. For this purpose I was then authorized to 


and the action taken by our © 


which had left us alone, and of other © 


enter into negotiations with the commissioner of the © 


Southern Confederacy, with the view of making such 
a treaty. At the same time, and for this purpose, there 
were men in whom we had unbounded confidence, 
selected to negotiate and enter into a treaty with the 
south. Immediately after the convention, I despatched 
a messenger to this distinguished commissioner for 
the Confederate States, who was then in the neighbor- 
hood of Fort , and informed him of our readiness 
to enter into a treaty. In the meantime, although 
there was no treaty made, it was deemed expedient 
to raise a Cherokee regiment for our own preservation, 
and for the purpose of repelling invasion and guard- 
ing our own border, and in any emergency of this 
kind to act in concert with the troops of the Southern 
Confederacy. This regiment was accordingly raised 
and organized at this place. On the arrival of the 
commissiorer at this place, the regiment welcomed 
him and formed his escort to his headquarters at Park 
Hill, where the treaty was made. The treaty was 
made, to the entire satisfaction of all who were con- 
cerned in it. It is the very best treaty we have 
ever made, in many particulars, as it secures to us 
advantages we have long sought, and gives us the 


% 


Se SSS 


APPENDIX 


rights of freemen, to dispose of our lands as we 
please. On the very day the treaty was signed, it 
was submitted to the national council, then in session, 
and was there read and deliberated on, article by 
article, and was unanimously adopted and confirmed 
by both houses, and it thus became a law. By nego- 
tiating this alliance with the Confederate States, we 
are under obligations to aid the South against all 
its enemies, so that the enemies of the South are our 
enemies. * * * sd 

“Under these circumstances the commissioner deemed 
it expedient to accept this regiment into the service 
at once. This was only delayed by the absence of the 
officer who was authorized to muster them into the 
service, (late Colonel McIntosh, C. S. A.) he having 
gone to duty under General McCullough. 

“But learning this, Colonel Cooper sent another of- 
ficer, who mustered them into the service, where the 
regiment Las been since then, until the recent very 
strange, unaccountable blunder and confusion, when 
it acted as it did when it was brought against Opoth- 
leyahola’s people, a few days ago, which conduct has 
been examined into to-day, and settled so advantage- 
ously by Colonel Cooper, the commander of the forces 
on this frontier, fesling assured that it was evidently 
caused by a misconception of matters as they really 
exist, or a mistake or misunderstanding of what 
Opothleyahola really is. When we concluded to enter 
into treaty negotiations with the Confederate States, 
by request of the commissioner I sent a messenger to 
the Osages and Senecas, requesting them to meet the 
commissioner at Park Hill, and they very promptly 
responded. I also despatched a messenger to Opoth- 
leyahola for the same purpose, and advised him to sub- 
mit to the treaty made with the Creeks, and to be 
advised by Colonel Cooper, who was his friend, and 
had used his utmost exertions to bring about peace- 
ful relations with the parties in the Creek nation. 

“Opothleyahola replied, that he was at peace with 
the South, with Colonel Coopner and the Cherokees, and 
desired to remain so. He was willing also to submit to 
all proper treaties, but that a party in his own nation 
was aganist him and his people, who would not allow 
him to be at peace. On this I used every possible 
means to settle the disputes between the parties and 
bring about peace, and hoped to succeed. The very last 
messenger Opothleyahola sent to me—one of his chiefs, 
Mico,—asked for my advice and intervention. I then 
sent a letter, by the same messenger, to Colonel Cooper, 
expressive of my views, and sent back word to Opoth- 
leyahola to come alone into the Cherokee country, 
where he would be protected, and to disperse his peo- 
ple and send them to their homes, and by no means 
to fight. But instead of doing this, he comes into the 
Cherokee country with a large armed force, and wan- 
tonly destroys the stock and other property of our 
citizens; by this means without cause, invading our 
soil and proving our enemy. He, by his subtlety seeks 
to inveigle the Cherokees into his quarrel, as he still 
tells them he was their friend, but proving by his dup- 
licity that he is not, as shown by their acts; for, while 
pretending peace, he was preparing for war, and has 
been deceiving us all the time, and no doubt has his 
agents among you, deluding you into the belief that 
it was only a party feud, and that he was oppressed, 
while he was acting for the North all the time. The 
very last messenger sent to him by Colonel Drew was 
at his own request; yet with the full authority of 
Colonel Cooper and Colonel D. N. McIntosh, he was 
charged with offers of peace, and this was from the 
leader of the very party he complained of. Yet the 
messenger was intercepted and prevented from seeing 
Opothleyahola by some of his chiefs, or officers, who 
were already striped and painted for war. It was this 
state of things that produced the strange blunder of 
this occasion, and caused the separation of the regi- 
ment. 

“Our treaty with the South is a good one, and, as 
I have said, is the best we have ever made, securing 
many advantages we did not before possess. It is, 
therefore, our duty and interest to respect it, and we 
must, as the interest of our common country demands 
it. According to the stipulations of the treaty we 
must meet enemies of our allies whenever the South 
requires it, as they are our enemies as well as the 
enemies of the South; and I feel sure that no such 


837 


occurrence as the one we deplore would have taken 
place if all things were understood as I have endeav- 
ored to explain them. Indeed, the true meaning of our 
treaty is, that we must know no line in the presence 
of our invader, be he who he may. We must not let 
the invader carry the war into our land, but meet him 
before he reaches our lines and repel him. If, unfortu- 
nately, th: invader should cross our lines, we must 
expel him by force, with the aid of our allies, and pur- 
sue him into his own country, as this is the intent 
of our treaty; for although we are more especially to 
be the guards of our own border, and are not required 
to go a long distance from our homes to fight the 
battles of the South, yet we are not restricted to a 
line when there is an enemy in view, but must repel 
him—pursue and destroy him. I hope you now under- 
stand it, and that everything will now go on well, as 
it should. I have no more to say, and will now intro- 
duce Colonel Cooper, the commander of the Confederate 
forces in the Indian country. 

“The Cherokees gave their customary token of ap- 
proval, when they were addressed by Colonel Cooper 
to the same effect as J. Ross. They were then ad- 
dressed in the Cherokee language by Major T. Pegg, 
at some length, but this was not interpreted. Many 
of the regiments left for their homes that night, not 
approving of the treaty and its requirements. 

“The foregoing is almost verbatim, and contains at 
least the substance of all the chief said. 

“Ww. L. G. MILLER, 
“True copy: WM. HAYES.” 

—Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1865, 
pp. 355-57. 

APPENDIX XXVI—4, 


REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT COFFIN. 


In a letter to William P. Cole, Commissioner of In- 
dian Affairs, Superintendent Coffin reported in part as 
follows: 

Fort Roe, Verdigris, February 13, 1862. 

Sir: Having now been here long enough to make 
& pretty thorough examination of the Indians here, 
I send you the inclosed census of those now here and 
in one or two days’ journey of this place. They are 
constantly arriving from twenty to sixty per day, and 
sending runners for provisions to be sent to the desti- 
tute on the way, and for transportation for the sick 
and feeble and helpless. The destitution, misery, and 
suffering amongst them is beyond the power of any 
pen to portray; it must be seen to be realized. There 
are now here over two thousand men, women, and chil- 
dren, entirely barefooted, and more than that number 
who have not rags enough to hide their nakedness. 
Many have died and others are constantly dying. I 
should think, at a rough guess, that from twelve to 
fifteen hundred dead ponies are laying around in the 
camps and in the river. On this account, so soon as 
the weather gets a little warm, a removal of their 
camp will be indispensable. There are, perhaps, now 
two thousand ponies living; they are very poor and 
many of them must die before grass comes, which 
we expect here from the 1st to the 10th of March. We 
are issuing a little corn to the Indians and they are 
feeding them a little, and we hope we will save most 
of them. I sent down, just before leaving Leaven- 
worth, five wagon-loads of blankets, clothing, shoes, 
boots, and socks, which are all distributed, except some 
we have retained for those that are constantly coming 
in, who are if possible, more destitute than those here, 
and the supply will not furnish the half of them with 
a pair of shoes and a blanket, or its equivalent in 
coarse clothing, and I shall send my clerk with this 
to Leavenworth and an order to Thomas Carney & 
Co. for as much more. I do not propose to furnish 
them with anything in the way of clothing, but a 
pair of shoes, socks and blankets, or its equivalent 
in other coarse clothing, (less than this looks like 
cruelty) and tobacco, which, to an Indian, is about 
as essential as food, more so than clothing, as you 
are aware. The funds at my command are exhausted 
and a considerable debt incurred besides. The money 
I had drawn on my salary and that of my clerk, 
O. S. Coffin, to the amount of $3,200, I had fortu- 
nately deposited on call at Leavenworth; this I drew 
and brought with me, and it is very fortunate that 
I did so, as Captain Varnee, General Hunter’s com- 


838 


missary, whom he sent down to attend to the sub- 
sistence department had left, and they had issued the 
last of these supplies the day I got here. I sent imme- 
diately an agent back to Neosho, with money to pur- 
chase cattle, pork, corn, and meal, and the three gov- 
ernment trains here I sent to load back with such as 
could be procured at once. We have been picking up 
what we could get around here and have kept them 
pretty well supplied with corn and meat, and think 
now they will not suffer till other supplies reach here 
from Neosho, the first of which we look for this eve- 
ning. 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 
1862, pp. 145-46. 


APPENDIX XXVI—5. 
THE INDIAN HOME GUARD REGIMENTS. 


The ist Regiment of the Indian Home Guard was 
organized under the immediate direction of General 
James G. Biunt, in May, 1862. Colonel Robert W. Fur- 
nas (afterward governor of Nebraska) was its first 
commander. He resigned in November, 1862, and was 
succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen H. Wattles, 
who was later promoted to the grade of colonel and 
who remained in command until the Regiment was 
mustered out of the service. 

The 2d Regiment of Indian Home Guards was 
mustered into the volunteer military service in Kan- 
sas, June 22d, 1862. Colonel John Ritchie was its com- 
mander, retaining that position during the entire serv- 
ice of the regiment. 

The 38d Regiment of Indian Home Guards was organ- 
ized in the field by Major William A. Phillips, of the 
lst Regiment, who was commissioned colonel of the 
3d Regiment when it was mustered into the service, 
September 16, 1862. Major John A. Foreman was in 
command of the regiment when it was mustered out 
of the service, Colonel Phillips then being in command 
of the Indian Home Guard Brigade. 

The regiments of the Indian Home Guard were listed 
with the Kansas troops in “The Official Army Reg- 
ister of the Volunteer Forces of the United States for 
the years 1861-62-63-64-65,” issued from the Adjutant 
General’s Office, in 1867, considerable detailed data 
concerning these three regiments kLeing contained 
therein. Later, the War Department issued an order 
directing that these organizations should be credited 
to the Indian Territory instead of Kansas. 

All three of the Indian Home Guard regiments were 
mustered out of the service, by reason of the end of 
the war, May 31, 1865. 


APPENDIX XXVITI—1. 


CONFEDERATE INDIAN FORCES IN THE 
INDIAN TERRITORY. 


In his report for May 4, 1862, Gen. Albert Pike gave 
the positions and activities of the Confederate Indian 
troops as follows: “ . ne The Cherokee and 
Creek troops are in their respective countries. The 
Choctaw troops are in front of me, in their country, 
part on this side of Boggy and part at little Boggy, 34 
miles from here [Fort McCulloch]. ‘These observe 
the roads to Fort Smith ard by Perryville toward Fort 
Gibson. Part of the Chickasaw battalion is sent to 
Camp McIntosh, 11 miles this side of the Wichita 
Agency, and part to Fort Arbuckle, and the Texan 
company is at Fort Cobb. 

“I have crdered Lieutenant-Colonel Jumper with his 
Seminoles to march to and take Fort Larned, on the 
Pawnee Fork of the Arkansas, where are considerable 
stores and a little garrison. He will go as soon as 
their annuity is paid. 

“The Creeks under Colonel McIntosh are abcut to 
make an extended scout westward. Stand Watie, with 
his Cherokees, scouts along the whole northern line 
of the Cherokee country from Grand Saline to Marys- 
ville, and sends me information continually of every 
movement of the enemy in Kansas and Southwestern 
Missouri. 

“The Comanches, Kiowas, and Reserve Indians are 
all peaceable and quiet. Some 2,000 of the former are 
encamped about three days’ ride from Fort Cobb, and 


APPENDIX 


some of them come in at intervals to procure provi- 
sions. They have sent to me to know if they can be 
allowed to send a strong party and capture any trains 
on their way from Kansas to New Mexico, to which 
I have no objection. To go on the war-path some- 
where else is the best way to keep them from trou- 
bling Texas. sees 

—Official Records of the Union and Confederate 
armies, Vol. XIII, pp. 819-23. 


APPENDIX XXVII—2. 
ENGAGEMENT AT LOCUST GROVE 


: : : Colonel Weer soon ascertained that 
Stand Watie was encamped with his command at his 
mills on Spavinaw Creek, some twenty-five miles south 
fof Cowskin Prairie], and that Colonel Clarkson [Col. 
J. J. Clarkson, C. S. A.J], who had recently been as- 
signed to the command of the northern part of the 
Indian Territory, was encamped at Locust Grove, near 
the Grand Saline, on the east side of Grand River, 
fifteen to twenty miles farther south, with a regiment 
of Missourians and a large amount of powder and am- 
munition. To strike these commands, Colonel Weer 
saw that no time should be lost, and that it might 
be necessary to make one or two night marches. That 
his movements might be as free as possible from any 
embarrassment, he sent all his baggage and supply 
trains, part of his artillery, the Second Ohio Cavalry, 
and the Ninth and Twelfth Regiments Wisconsin In- 
fantry, from Round Grove [on Cowskin Prairie] to 
the west side of Grand River, with instructions to 
march to Cabin Creek. At that point, that part of the 
command was to await further orders. 

“Colonel Weer took with him the available men of 
the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, under the command of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Jewell, a detachment of the Ninth Kan- 
sas Cavalry, under Major Bancroft, a detachment of 
the Tenth Kansas Infantry, under Captain Quigg, in 
wagons, and a detachment of the First Indian Regi- 
ment, and a section of Captain Allen’s First Kansas 
Battery, and marched down on the east side of Grand 
River, with the view, if possible, of striking and de- 
moralizing Stand Watie’s command, and of surprising 
Colonel Clarkson at Locust Grove. He had informa- 
tion that Stand Watie’s and other Confederate troops 
operating in the Cherokee nation were to join Clark- 
son at once, or were to be concentrated at some point 
in the nation for the purpose of checking the Federal 
advance. 

“Having decided to strike Stand Watie first, Colo- 
nel Jewell, of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, was sent 
east of Colonel Weer’s column in the direction of 
Maysville, and in the afternoon of the first day’s 
march he came upon the fresh trail of the enemy. He 
was informed by an Indian family that Stand Watie 
had passed, marching south, only an hour or so before, 
with three or four hundred mounted men. This news 
caused a ripple of excitement, and Colonel Jewell’s 
cavalry at once struck up a fast trot in the pursuit, 
and after about two hours came in sight of Stand 
Watie, where he had stopped at an Indian house for 
supper. He had heard that the Federal column was 
moving south, and had taken the precaution to leave 
a guard in the road, who warned him of the nearness 
of the Federal advance in time to enable him to mount 
his horse and gallop off in sight of his pursuers. He 
soon overtook his command, but the Federal cavalry 
were right at his heels, the foremost troopers firing 
at him every time they came in sight of him and his 
attendants, killing one of his men. He made no effort 
to form his men in line, but every man seemed bent 
on saving himself. The chase was exciting for sev- 
eral miles, when darkness came on and then the en- 
emy commenced to break up into small detachments 
and take to the hills and obscure paths and byroads. 
As the enemy had been forced from the main road 
leading to Locust Grove, and as the pursuit could not 
be kept up farther to advantage, Colonel Jewell halted 
a short time to allow his command to close up, which 
had not been practicable in the exciting chase of the 
last few miles. When his command had all closed up, 
a short consultation was held with his principal offi- 
cers, and the march resumed for the purpose of join- 
ing Colonel Weer in the neighborhood of Grand Saline 
by daylight next morning. It was thought that Stand 


“ec 


APPENDIX 


Watie’s command was too badly demoralized to rally 
and reach Clarkson in time to do him any good, or to 
even warn him of the nearness of the Federal troops. 
An estimate of the time it would take to reach the 
enemy’s camp was made, and the command at once 
put in motion. 

“Colonel Weer, who had taken a road west of Colo- 
nel Jewell’s column, had guides along who knew the 
exact location of the enemy. On nearing the neigh- 
borhood of the Confederate forces, he ordered his 
troops to march in as close order as practicable, so 
that when the time came their movements could be 
directed as the situation required. Just before day- 
light the head of his column reached Locust Grove 
without opposition, and in a few moments surrounded 
Colonel Clarkson’s camp, and at once opened fire upon 
it. The Confederates were completely surprised. They 
had not heard that there were any Federal troops 
in the Indian Territory nearer than Neosho River or 
Round Grove. When they were aroused by the Fed- 
eral firing, so much confusion ensued that no regular 
line of battle could be fermed. Some of the men, in 
a half-dressed condition, endeavored to shelter them- 
selves behind the wagons of their train. Others en- 
deavored to break through the Federal lines, and were 
shot down or captured. A few, on the first alarm, 
made their escape before the Federal line had closed 
around the camp. 

“Seeing that such resistance as he could make would 
entail a useless loss of life, Colonel Clarkson surren- 
dered to Colonel Weer one hundred and ten men, all 
that had not escaped and that had not been killed 
or wounded, together with all his trains. Colonel 
Jewell’s column came up in time to engage in the 
pursuit of the fleeing rebels. There were sixty-four 
mule teams in the baggage and supply trains thus 
captured, and the Confederate commissary had on hand 
a good supply of salt, flour, and other provisions. The 
Confederates had been working the salt-works at 
Grand Saline up to their full capacity in making 
salt for the use of the Confederate troops operating 
in Western Arkansas and in the Indian Territory. As 
salt was as plentiful as any other commodity all over 
the North, and as the Federal troops were abundantly 
supplied with it by the Government as a part of their 
rations, the salt-works at Grand Saline were destroyed 
to prevent their further use by the Confederates.” 
—Wiley Britton, “The Civil War on the Border,” Vol. 
I, pp. 300-03. 


APPENDIX XXVII—3. 
COLONEL SALOMON’S ADDRESS. 


Headquarters Indian Expedition, 
Camp on Grand River, July 18, 1862. 


To COMMANDERS OF THE DIFFERENT CORPS CON- 
STITUTING INDIAN EXPEDITION: 


Sirs:—In military as well as civil affairs great and 
violent wrongs need speedy and certain remedies. The 
time had arrived, in my judgment, in the history of 
this expedition when the greatest wrong ever perpe- 
trated upon any troops was about to fall with crush- 
ing weight upon the noble men composing the com- 
mand. Some one must act, and that at once, or starva- 
tion and capture were the imminent hazards that 
looked us in the face. 

As next in command to Colonel Weer, and upon his 
express refusal to move at all for the salvation of 
his troops, I felt the responsibility resting upon me. 

I have arrested Colonel Weer and assumed command. 

The causes leading to this arrest you all know. I 
need not reiterate them here. Suffice to say that we 
are 160 miles from the base of operations, almost en- 
tirely through an enemy’s country, and without com- 
munication being left open behind us. We have been 
pushed forward thus far by forced and fatiguing 
marches under the violent southern sun without any 
adequate object. By Colonel Weer’s orders we were 
forced to encamp where our famishing men were un- 
able to obtain anything but putrid, stinking water. 
Our reports for disability and unfitness for duty were 
disregarded; our cries for help and complaints of un- 
necessary hardships and suffering were received with 
closed ears. Yesterday a council of war, convened by 
the order of Colonel Weer, decided our only safety lay 


839 


in falling back to some point from which we could 
reopen communication with our commissary depot. 
Colonel Weer overrides and annuls the decision of that 
council, and announces his determination not to move 
from this point. We have but three days’ rations on 
hand and an order issued by him putting the command 
on half rations. For nearly two weeks we have no 
communication from our rear. We have no knowledge 
when supply trains will reach us, neither has Colonel 
Weer. Three sets of couriers, dispatched at different 
times to find these trains and report, have so far made 
no report. Reliable information has been received 
that large kodies of the enemy were moving to our 
rear, and yet we lay here idle. We are now and ever 
since our arrival here have been entirely without veg- 
etables or healthy food for our troops. I have stood 
with arms folded and seen my men faint and fall away 
from me like the leaves of autumn because I thought 
myself powerless to save them. 

“T will look upon this scene no longer. 
responsibility I have assumed. I have acted after 
careful thought and deliberation. Give me your confi- 
dence for a few days, and all that man can do, and 
with a pure purpose and firm faith that he is right, 
shall be done for the preservation of the troops. 

“EF. SALOMON, Colonel 9th Wis. Vols. 
Comdg. Indian Expedition.” 

—Official Records of the Union and Confederate 

Armies, Vol. XIII, pp. 475-76. 


I know the 


Headquarters Indian Expedition, 

Camp on Wolf Creek, Cherokee Nation, July 20, 1862. 
Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt, 

Commanding Department of Kansas: 

Sir:—I have the honor to report that I have arrested 
Col. William Weer, commanding the Indian Expedi- 
tion, and have assumed command. Among the numer- 
ous reasons for this step a few of the chief are as 
follows: 

From the day of our first report to him we have 
found him a man abusive and violent in his intercourse 
with his fellow-officers, notoriously intemperate in 
habits, entirely disregarding military usages and dis- 
cipline, always rash in speech, act, and orders, refus- 
ing to inferior officers and their reports that consider- 
ation which is due an officer of the U. S. Army. 

Starting from Cowskin Prairie on the ist instant, we 
were pushed rapidly forward to the vicinity of Fort 
Gibson, on the Arkansas River, a distance of 160 miles 
from Fort Scott. No effort was made by him to keep 
communication open behind us. It seemed he desired 
none. We had but twenty-three days’ rations on hand. 
As soon as he reached a position on Grand River, 
fourteen miles from Fort Gibson, his movements sud- 
denly ceased. We could then have crossed the Arkan- 
sas River, but it seemed there was no object to be 
attained in his judgment by such a move. There we 
lay entirely idle from the 9th to the 19th. We had at 
last reached the point when we had but three days’ 
rations on hand. Something must be done. We were 
in a barren country, with a large force of the enemy 
in front of us, a large and now impossible river 
between us, and no news from our train or from our 
base of operations for twelve days. What were we 
to do? Colonel Weer called a council of war at which 
he stated that the Arkansas River was now impass- 
able to our forces; that a train containing commissary 
stores had been expected for three days; that three 
different sets of couriers sent out some time previous 
had entirely failed to report; that he had been twelve 
days entirely without communication with or from 
the department, and that he had received reliable 
information that a large force of the enemy were 
moving to our rear via the Verdigris River for the 
purpose of cutting off our train. 

Upon this and other information the council of war 
decided that our only safety lay in falling back to 
some point where we could reopen communication and 
learn the whereabouts of our train of subsistence. 
To this decision of the council he at the time assented, 
and said that he would arrange with the commanders 
of brigades the order of march. Subsequently he is- 
sued an order putting the command on half rations, 
declaring that he would not fall back, and refused 
utterly, upon my application, to take any steps for 
the safety or salvation of his command. I could but 


840 


conclude that the man was either insane, premedi- 
tated treachery to his troops, or perhaps that his 
grossly intemperate habits long continued had pro- 
duced idiocy or monomania. In either case the com- 
mand was imperiled and a military necessity demanded 
that something must be done, and that without delay, 
I took the only step I believed available to save your 
troops. I arrested this man, have drawn charges 
against him, and now hold him subject to your orders. 

On the morning of the 19th I commenced a retro- 
grade march and have fallen back with my main 
force to this point. 

You will see by General Orders, No. 1, herewith 
forwarded, that I have stationed the 1st and 2d 
Regiments Indian Home Guards as a corps of obser- 
vation along the Grand and Verdigris rivers; also to 
guard the fords of the Arkansas. Yesterday evening 
a courier reached me at Prior Creek with dispatches 
saying that a commissary train was at Hudson’s 
Crossing, 75 miles north of us, waiting for an addi- 
tional force as an escort. Information also reaches 
me this morning that Colonel Watie, with a force of 
1,200 men, passed .up the east side of Grand River 
yesterday for the purpose of cutting off this train. I 
have sent out strong reconnoitering parties to the 
east of the river, and if the information proves reli- 
able will take such further measures as I deem best 
for its security. 

I design simply to hold the country we are now in, 
and will make no important moves except such as I 
may deem necessary for the preservation of this 
command until I receive specific instructions from 
you. I sent Major Burnett with a small escort to 
make his way through to you. He will give you 
more at length the position of this command, their 
condition, &c., 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
F. SALOMON, 
Colonel 9th Wis. Vols. 
Comdg. Indian Expedition. 

—Official Records of the Union and Confederate Ar- 

mies, Vol. XIII, pp. 484-85. 


APPENDIX XXVII—4. 
THE INDIAN EXPEDITION. 


Camp near Sulphur Springs, August 2, 1862. 

Sir: After some deliberation on the matter, we 
have concluded to furnish you with a statement of 
the movements of the Indian brigade, and the effect 
the campaign thus far has had on the minds of the 
Indians. We believe that such a statement is due not 
only to the Indians themselves, but to the officers 
commanding the Indian regiments. 

From the commencement of their march the officers 
in command of the expedition have required of the 
Indian officers the same amount of service, to be per- 
formed in the same manner, as they have from the 
white men. This the Indians did not expect, and they 
claim that it is contrary to the promises made them 
by the Commissioner and yourself. They further claim 
that the government was to reinstate them in posses- 
sion of their lands, after which they were to be left 
as home-guards to defend the country. 

Colonel Ritchie’s regiment, you are aware, was in 
the advance at Cowskin prairie, and, knowing the 
enemy to be more than double their force, they 
cheered their colonel to go on in his determination to 
drive Raines and his force of 1,400 men from the posi- 
tion he held. The officers took breakfast already 
cooked for Stanwatie, while that rebel retreated so 
hastily that our Indians could only come in sight of 
his rear guards. Raines took his whole force to 
Evansville, twenty miles below, on the Arkansas 
border. 

When near Grand Saline, Colonel Weer detached 
parts of the 6th, 9th, and 10th Kansas regiments, and 
sent the Ist Indian regiment in advance. By a forced 
night march they came up to the camp of Colonel 
Clarkson, completely surprising him, eapturing all his 
supplies, and taking one hundred prisoners; among 
them the colonel himself. 

The Creek Indians were first in the fight, led by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Wattles and Major Ellithorpe. We 
do not hear that any white man fired a gun unless it 
was to kill the surgeon of the 1st Indian Regiment. 


APPENDIX 


We were since informed that one white man was 
killed by the name of McClintock, of the 9th Kansas 
Regiment. In reality, it was a victory gained by the 
lst Indian Regiment; and while the other forces 
would, no doubt, have acted well, it is the height of 
injustice to claim this victory for the whites. 

Houses have been plundered and completely gutted 
by white soldiers, and the wantonness laid to the In- 
dians. We will mention a case in point: The beau- 
tiful residence of Mr. Lewis Ross, a Union man of the 
Cherokee nation. We have the evidence, and know 
the names and regiments of white soldiers to which 
they belong, and yet Indians have been cursed for the 
vandalism. We do not claim for them any more hon- 
esty than for the whites. What we do claim is this: 
that they have been willing to obey orders, and that 
the cases of flagrant outrage and wrong have been 
done by the whites; and this example more than aught 
else has been a cause of dissatisfaction, the Indians 
feeling that they had some claim to the property in 
their own country, and looking upon the orders they 
had, not to touch anything as partial, the whites get- 
ting the plunder, while the Indians were burdened 
with the odium of the pillage. They feel that they 
have been made scapegoats for the crimes of others, 
and we believe there is too much justice in this 
feeling. 

The Cherokees have been of great service in their 
own country. The Creeks, Seminoles, Delawares, &c., 


have at all times been ready to answer all that was 


required of them. 

On the day of Colonel Weer’s arrest the Indian reg- 
iments formed into a brigade, and Colonel Furnas 
assumed command and marched to the Verdigris 
River, opposite the old camp and about twelve miles 
west of it, while Colonel Salomon marched the whole 
white force to Hudson’s Crossing, some seventy-five or 
eighty miles north, thus leaving the Indian regiments 
to cover his retreat. Colonel Furnas had large scout- 
ing parties near Fort Gibson, commanded by Captain 
Fall Leaf, Jim Ned, and other Indian officers; and 
when they came in, he despatched Major Phillips with 
detachments from the Ist, 2d and 8d Indian regiments, 
to scour the country between Talloqua and Fort Gib- 
son, while Captain Foreman, with one piece of artil- 
lery, pushed on toward Gibson, on the Texas Road, 
expecting to operate in conjunction with Major Phil- 
lips. The command under Major Phillips completely 
surprised a large force of the enemy, who were on 
their way to Park Hill, intending to punish John Ross 
and the Union people of that vicinity for their wel- 
come of the Union army. The lieutenant colonel of 
Watie’s regiment, Thomas Taylor, was killed in the 
action, and his forces, completely routed, fled in wild 
confusion to Fort Gibson. Our Indian allies pursued, 
but their horses were too much jaded to overtake the 
enemy, who was well mounted. 

You will see the official report of this battle, and 
will not fail to give credit to the Indians for their 
courage. There were no white soldiers here to claim 
the honors of the victory. 

Times were getting dangerous: the enemy was con- 
centrating his forces at Fort Davis [q. v.], with the 
intention of attacking us, having got knowledge of 
the retreat of our whole troops. Major Wright, of 
the 2d, was despatched with reénforcements to Major 
Phillips, while Colonel Furnas learned that the rebels 
Were preparing a flank movement against us from the 
Verdigris. He had a large train to protect, and all 
his available force was out with Majors Phillips and 
Wright, while Captain Foreman was making a bold 
move toward Fort Gibson. At any time during four 
days two hundred men, by a sudden attack, could have 
taken our train. There was but one thing to do. The 
Creeks were clamorous for a retreat—at least far 
enough to be within reach of our army in case we 
were attacked. Colonel Corwin, of the 2d, and Colonel 
Wattles counselled a retreat. In fact, it was, under 
the circumstances, impossible for Colonel Furnas to 
hold his position. His train could have been at any 
time taken by a party from the Verdigris, and he 
could not possibly spare men to guard that point; and 
having only two days’ rations, he reluctantly yielded 
to necessity, and fell back to this point, to await the 
arrival of Majors Phillips and Wright. 


The Indians feel that the white forces left them. 


caring little whether they were cut off or not, and 


@ 
r 


5 a a 


OO i re el 


a a yey 


APPENDIX 


were at the time of our retreat in almost a state of 
mutiny, after which the Osages nearly all deserted, 
which nobody regrets; but we must assure you that 
the rest of the Indians have nobly stood by our flag. 

The true record of the movements here will show 
you that they have at all times occupied the post of 
danger, and have thus far acquitted themselves well, 
and we ask for them an honest judgment; and in be- 
half of the officers of the Indian regiments, we ask 
that justice be done them in the trying situation in 
which they have been placed. 

Colonel Ritchie having been detached from his 
command with Companies H, I, and K, Cherokees, to 
take charge of some one hundred and twenty prison- 
ers en route for Fort Leavenworth, and be regularly 
mustered into service, the command devolved upon 
Lieutenant Colonel Corwin, who has always been at 
his post and shown himself an efficient officer. 

Such, sir, is, we believe, a faithful report of the 
Indian brigade. It has done more service, with less 
thanks, than any part of our army. We feel that in 
justice to the officers and men it is our duty to make 
such a statement. 

Very truly, your obedient servants, 
Hy CARRUTH, 
United States Indian Agent. 
H. W. MARTIN, 
Special Indian Agent. 
COLONEL WILLIAM G. COFFIN, 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs. 

—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 

1862, pp. 162-64. 


APPENDIX XXVII—5. 
GENERAL PIKE IN THE CIVIL WAR. 


The part borne by General Pike in the Civil War 
was unfortunate for his fame. As a schdlar, a thinker, 
a poet, an orator, a philosopher and a fraternalist, he 
will always take high rank and justly so. Though he 
had been a company commander in the volunteer army 
during the war with Mexico, he was not fitted for 
the exercise of an office of such rank and responsibil- 
ity as that of a department commander at the time of 
the Civil War. That he was not lacking in the ele- 
ment of energy personally, was abundantly proven by 
his activity during the period in which, as a commis- 
sioner for the Confederate States, he was engaged in 
negotiating treaties with the several Indian tribes. 
Apparently, he was lacking in military initiative, 
yet even this may have been due to the lack of equip- 
ment and provisions for the forces under his command 
rather than because of the want of aggressiveness on 
his own part. As a correspondent he was inclined to 
prolixity, his letters being possibly the longest of 
any that were published in the Official Records of the 
Union and Confederate armies. Moreover the rhet- 
orical figures and phrases of the orator and poet 
would occasionally crop out in his reports and orders, 
where words of blunt, simple directness would have 
served better. His lack of ability to take things as 
he found them and make the most of the opportunity 
regardless of how far it might fall short of desired 
conditions was illustrated not alone in the policy he 
pursued but also in his mental attitude with regard to 
matters of trivial detail. Thus, in one of his general 
orders (Official Records of the Union and Confederate 
Armies, Series I, Vol. XIII, p. 953) occurs the follow- 
ing clause: 

“Captain Marshall’s company of Texas Cavalry will 
proceed to the Wichita Mountains, on the head of 
Clear Creek, or a branch of Cache Creek, in the valley, 
at the foot of Mount Beauregard, heretofore known as 
Mount Scott, the highest peak of those mountains. 
The department quartermaster will furnish mechan- 
ics and laborers and he-will erect there two block- 
houses, of two stories each, loopholed, and the upper 
story projecting at different angles beyond the lower 
one; also a commissary warehouse and other neces- 
Bev DULGInES.. 50" 

Despite lack of efficiency and success as a military 
commander, the part which he took in persuading the 
various Indian tribes to align themselves on the side 
of the seceding states was an important one, even 
though the results did not justify his expectations. 
Physically, a man of gigantic stature and imposing 
presence, he was one of the most picturesque figures 


841 


of the period in the history of the Indian Territory, 
where he was remembered long after some of his abler 
successors had been forgotten, y 


APPENDIX XXVIII—1. 
THE RETURN OF THE REFUGEES. 


“On the 21st of February [1863], immediately after 
the adjournment of the Cherokee Council, the Indian 
Brigade moved from Elk Mills up Elk River to Pine- 
ville, and from that place marched to Bentonville, 
Arkansas, where it encamped for several weeks. This 
movement was preliminary to the opening of the spring 
campaign, and of marching into the Cherokee Nation. 
The Indian soldiers in particular were delighted that 
there was a prospect of going back into their own 
country again in a short time. While encamped at 
Bentonville the smallpox broke out among the Indian 
soldiers, and a good many were taken down and a few 
died before the surgeons could check the spread of 
the disease by vaccination. Very few of the Indians 
had been vaccinated up to this time, and when the 
disease appeared among them, it soon spread rapidly. 
Nearly all the white soldiers escaped the disease, hav- 
ing been vaccinated before or shortly after enlist- 
ment. A smallpox hospital was established about half 
a mile from the camp of the troops, but in spite of 
the isolation of the patients the disease did not die 
out until late in the spring. It was impossible to 
prevent the spread of the disease while the refugee 
families and the soldiers of these families freely 
mingled together. 


“These signs of activity displayed by the Confeder- 
ate leaders convinced Colonel Phillips that he should 
establish his headquarters at Fort Gibson as early as 
practicable, if it was determined to hold the Indian 
country north of the Arkansas River. He could march 
into the Indian Territory any day, but he knew the 
moment he entered that Territory the Indian families 
at Neosho would wish to return to their homes, and 
he was desirous that they should remain where they 
were until spring should advance far enough to en- 
able their ponies to live on the range. He saw that 
if these families should join his command before en- 
tering the Indian Territory they would increase the 
size of the refugee camp and expose them to the con- 
tagion of smallpox, which had already invaded a good 
many families encamped near his troops. He had 
been able to forage off the country during the past 
winter, but when he entered the Indian country he 
would be obliged to have corn and oats for his ani- 
mals transported from Fort Scott in wagon trains. 
In a few weeks the grass on the Arkansas River bot- 
tom would furnish good grazing for such of his cav- 
alry horses as would not be employed in active scout- 
ing. In the meantime he determined to keep out 
strong detachments of cavalry scouting the country 
to Van Buren and north of the Arkansas River as far 
west as Fort Gibson, depending on Colonel Harrison, 
commanding at Fayetteville, to keep the enemy from 
menacing his left flank on the east and southeast. 
“On the morning of April 9th the refugee train, a 
train of wagons perhaps more than a mile long, with 
an escort of three hundred Indian soldiers under Cap- 
tain A. C. Spillman, arrived at Park Hill from Neosho, 
Missouri, bringing all the Indian families who had 
spent the winter at that place. Many of the Indian 
women and children were riding their ponies, their 
effects and the old and the invalids being hauled in 
the wagons. This meeting of the Indian soldiers with 
their families near the capital of their country, after 
a separation of nearly a year in some instances, was 
the occasion for much rejoicing, for it was an event 
the consummation of which they had been earnestly 
wishing for through the long weary months of hard- 
ship and exile. But while all these people were grat- 
ified and even thankful to be able to come together 
under the bright skies of their own beautiful coun- 
try, all the greetings of husbands and wives and mem- 
bers of families and friends did not present scenes of 
rejoicing. Many of these families had been exposed 
to the epidemic of measles at Neosho during the past 
winter, and the mortality from the resulting sequelae 
of the disease had been very great, particularly among 
the children, on account of the inadequate facilities 


842 


for taking proper care of the patients. There was 
very little correspondence by writing between the 
Indian soldiers and their families, and at the greet- 
ings of parents, reference was soon made to a child 
or member of the family who had fallen a victim to 
disease and had been left behind to be mourned by 
loving hearts. Thus were hearts torn by trials and 
severe afflictions, so that there was weeping as well as 
rejoicing when the Indian soldiers met their families 
returning from exile. 

‘Now that nearly all the families of the loyal Indi- 
ans had been brought together in their own country, 
the question was at once presented to the Federal 
commander, Would not the presence of these families 
increase the burden, already great, of providing sub- 
sistence for his troops, since the only part of the 
ration he could depend upon the country to furnish 
would be fresh meat? While he saw that he might 
be obliged to issue to some of the Indian families part 
of the subsistence supplies brought down from Fort 
Scott for his troops, it was his policy to encourage 
the families living north of the Arkansas River to 
return to their homes as far as practicable for the 
purpose of putting in their usual crops of corn and 
garden stuff. Even in peaceable times a good many 
Indian women had been in the habit of working such 
patches of corn and potatoes as were cultivated. 
When leaving their homes most of these Indians had 
been able to bring out a good many of their ponies, 
probably at least one for each member of the family 
to ride, except children in the arms of their mothers, 
and now that the range was getting good this stock 
could be better taken care of and made more useful 
at the homes of families than in camp near the troops. 

“Very few of the houses and fences had been burned 
in the Indian Territory, except such as were burned 
by accidental fires breaking out, and those families 
who returned to their homes generally found their 
premises in nearly the same condition in which they 
left them, and in some cases were able to find on the 
range some of their horses and cattle which had not 
been killed or driven off in their absence. After the 
defeat and breaking up of General Cooper’s force at 
Fort Wayne in October, the Southern Indians had not 
ventured north of the Arkansas River, except along 
the State line between Fort Smith and the Boston 
Mountains a week or so during the Prairie Grove 
campaign, so that they had not been able to collect 
and drive off much stock during the past winter. 

“As the winter had not been very severe, most of 
the abandoned stock in the Territory had been able 
to live in the canebrakes and on the range in the 
timber along the streams. A process of natural selec- 
tion had made the Indian cattle and horses hardy 
breeds, and, aS many of the cattle would soon be in 
condition for making good beef, it was of the utmost 
importance that they should be protected from the 
depredation of partisan bands who were already mak- 
ing efforts to collect herds of them to drive south for 
the use of the Southern army. When the loyal Indian 
families commenced returning to their homes, the 
presence in any neighborhood of partisan bands or 
other agents of the Confederacy collecting stock 
quickly excited attention, and was likely in a short 
time to be made known to the Federal commander of 
the Indian troops, for an Indian woman did not seem 
to regard it as much of a hardship to mount her pony 
and ride twenty-five to thirty miles in a day or night 
on an important mission.” 

—Wiley Britton, “The Civil War on the Border,’ 
Vol. II, pp. 25-28 and 34-37, respectively. 


APPENDIX XXIX—1. 


HOW INDIAN TROOPS WERE REGARDED IN THE 
TWO ARMIES. 


Headquarters District of the Indian Territory, 


In Camp, June 29, 1864. 
Brig. Gen. D. H. Cooper, 
Commanding Division, &c., 
General: 

Your letter, No. 503, of yesterday is just received. 
There can be no question in the mind of an officer 
acquainted with his duties upon the point you fear may 
be raised by some of the white officers in the event 
they are thrown in connection with Indian troops com- 


APPENDIX 


manded by a senior officer. The law is positive and 
definite that the senior officer present shall command 
the whole. The Confederate Government recognizes 
Indian officers without making the slightest distine- 
tion between their rights as such and [those of] white 


officers. I unhesitatingly decide that the senior officer 
prereut of any expedition is entitled to the com- 
mand. 


Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
S. B. MAXEY, 
Major-General, Commanding. 


[Indorsement.] 


Post Oak Grove, July 3, 1864. 
Respectfully forwarded for General Cooper’s infor- 
mation. The original sent through district headquar- 
ters to headquarters Trans-Mississippi Department, 
CHARLES DE MORSE, 
Colonel, Commanding Brigade. 


[Note.] 

October, 1864. 
No decision from the department headquarters has 
yet been communicated. It will be observed that 
Colonel De Morse asserts that it is understood that 
“General Smith decided adversely to my decision,” 
which is sustained by General Maxey. The question 
was raised by Colonel Martin and referred through 
General Steele, whom I requested to put Colonel Mar- 
tin in arrest for refusal to obey my order requir- 
ing him to report to Colonel Walker. Colonel Martin 
was not arrested, General Steele only informing me 
that the papers had been referred to General Smith, 
from whom I have never heard officially on the subject. 

D. H. COOPER; 
Brigadier-General. 


Respectfully forwarded through district headquar- 
ters, and the decision of General E. Kirby Smith, com- 
manding ‘Trans-Mississippi Department, requested. 
The issue made by Brigadier-General Cooper and de- 
cided by Major-General Maxey, brings up in practical 
form the old question of the relative grade of races, 
upon which there is now being waged sanguinary war 
between the North and the South of the old Union, 
The Indian is physiologically recognized ‘as an infe- 
rior race and I respectfully protest against the deci- 
sion of the major-general commanding this district as 
one to which no white officer, with a proper respect for 
the natural dignity of his race can submit. Aside 
from the fact, well known to those who have had the 
experience of the previous year in this district, that 
no Indian commander is qualified by attainments for 
such duty as the regulations of the army call for, is 
super-added the well-known mental incapacity of that 
people to direct operations which require promptness 
and concentration of mind. 

It is, too, an obvious trait of the Indian character 
that those people are naturally indisposed as well as 
unfitted to lead and, of their own impulses, always 
prefer to be led and to repose upon the judgment and 
superior mental acuteness of the white man. It is 
understood that this question was last year decided 
by the general commanding the department adverse to 
the late decision by the district commander and it is 
presumed that it will be so decided. If otherwise, and 
it is expected that the white man will be subordinated 
to the Indian, I ask respectfully to be immediately 
relieved from duty in this district, as I shall not, under 
any conceivable circumstances, renounce the self- 
respect of a gentleman and subordinate myself to an 
individual of an inferior race; and I may say, with- 
out consultation, that I am fully satisfied that no other 
white officer in this brigade will. 


We undergo humiliations and discouragements 
enough here, without this additional chastisement. 
Isolated in an uncultivated waste, cut off from all 


hope of advancement incident to good conduct in 
other districts, with only the sense of duty to sustain 
us, half-armed, half-clothed, insufficient in number to 
effect anything positive except to prevent the Terri- 
tory from being overrun and the granary of _the 
Southwest from being destroyed, with the certainty 
that, without the interposition of the few white troops 
here, the Federals would soon be in Northern Texas 
and that, without our interposition, the credit of 
whatever may be accomplished will be rendered 
mainly to others and comparative injustice done us (I 


APPENDIX 


speak from experience, not supposition), our situation 
is sufficiently disagreeable without any unnecessary 
degredations. CHARLES DE MORSE, 
Colonel, Commanding Brigade. 
[Charles De Morse was colonel of the 29th Texas 
Cavalry, in the Confederate service.] 
—Official Records of the Union and Confederate Ar- 
mies, Vol. XXXIV, Part IV, pp. 698-700. 


EFFICIENCY OF FEDERAL INDIAN TROOPS DUR- 
ING THE WAR. 


Before one agrees with those Federal officers and 
historical writers who have maintained that the Indi- 
ans were poor soldiers and unfit for military duty dur- 
ing the Civil War, it is well to consider the conditions 
with which the Indians had to contend. In the first 
place, these people, many of them accustomed to liv- 
ing in prosperous and comfortable circumstances, had 
to leave their homes to be concentrated in refugee 
camps where they could obtain no clothing nor food 
and where they suffered from sickness during the worst 
winter weather—utterly miserable beings in the most 
trying and wretched conditions. Leaving their fami- 
lies in this plight, the Indian men were enlisted as 
soldiers not only to be poorly fed and clothed and 
given the worst possible equipment, more often than 
not no equipment whatever, in the way of arms and 
horses, but also to remain objects of scorn on the part 
of many superior Federal Army officers and to be 
disappointed time and time again in promises that 
were never fulfilled. All these handicaps were 
heaped upon Indians—most of them full-bloods who 
could not speak nor understand English,—who were 
ignorant of military tactics and training in the mod- 
ern sense, besides their being called upon to fight in 
the ranks, of what was considered an efficient army, 
outside of the Indian Territory in spite of original 
plans to the contrary. In the light of these circum- 
stances it is not giving the Indians who fought in the 
Civil War justice to say, ‘“‘“Halleck was right and they 
ought never to have been employed as a fighting force 
under any circumstances. Their civilization, ground 
for hope though it was, was yet only a veneer. As 
soldiers they were a lamentable makeshift always, a 
mere convenience. At any moment the savage in 
them was likely to reappear.” (Abel in “The Indian 
Under Reconstruction,” p. 104.) In the last analysis, 
it can be rightfully said that the Indian troops in the 
Civil War, especially those who fought in the Federal 
ranks on the frontiers of Kansas, Missouri, and Ar- 
eleged made a record of merit that cannot be gain- 
said. 

In a letter to President Lincoln, dated January 4, 
1864, Col. Wm. A. Phillips wrote as follows: 

“As Commanding Officer of the Brigade which in- 
cludes the Indian Regiment, I desire to call to your 
personal attention the condition of that little under- 
stood and too much neglected Command. 

“T have forwarded a report of the condition of the 
Indian Regiments in response to a request for evi- 
dence on the proposition of mustering them out. 
send an additional copy to you through Mr. Wilder. 

“The Indian Command as an ‘experiment’ has been 
entitled to more consideration than it has received. A 
portion of the Army Officials (honestly no doubt) have 
been opposed to it from its inception. No general 
system has been adopted. It has been to a large 
extent the victim of accidents. The white troops from 
States have officials to fight for their interests and 
honor. While the Indian Regiments have really done 
more effective service than any others I ever knew, no 
State has been concerned to vindicate their glory or 
redress their sufferings. In their behalf I appeal to 
your Excellency. 

“Should the Government have determined or should 
it determine to muster them out of the service, every 
facility will be heartily furnished by the officers of the 
Command, who, I fear, would more cheerfully listen 
to propositions to muster them out than to reorgan- 
ize them. They were once more hopeful. When I 
returned to them eight months ago, after a sickness 
of smallpox, caught with them, I found every one 
discouraged. Gen’l Blunt, who once eulogized them, 
did them much less than justice. He held out hopes 
of promotion in Negro regiments to all who were am- 
bitious, and the ambition and sense of duty of these 


843 


young men, whom I had picked from able sergeants 
and privates of white regiments, was the only element 
of power I had to induce them to work in so arduous 
a task. It was said the regiments would surely be 
mustered out. So long as they existed such a thing 
must be fatal to them. 

“I had expected to get a white brigade at Fort 
Smith, but as this command was going to pieces they 
sent me back. I found not an ounce of flour in the 
commissary, the Command 400 sacks in debt to the 
Indian Department. No forage. The mules dead or 
dying. The white troops that had been with the com- 
mand received 8000 starving refugees in the vicinity 
of the camp. Hundreds of cases of smallpox. The 
white officers discouraged. No cavalry even for pick- 
ets. The Rebels threatening to take Gibson and rav- 
aging the country. 

“It has been my fortune, and I do not repine at it, 
to assume some severe tasks since I took my share in 
this war, but this was the most discouraging. I have 
(been) able with the most meagre resources to get 
bread enough to exist, and pay what the Command 
owed the other department, to get forage, though 
obtained seventy miles off—to repulse and break up 
Standwatie and Quantrel, to follow them and beat 
them even with infantry, and to drive them over the 
river, and I breathe a little freer and see daylight, 
but after all the command is in a condition requiring 
your aid. 

“If it is to be mustered out, ‘Very well.’ If not, 1 
respectfully suggest: 

ist. That the Indian Nation ought to be a separate 


district. That while brought as close as possible to 
the Blue Book standard, it be treated fairly as an 
experiment. 


2nd. That means be furnished to fill all vacancies 
in some systematic way. There being no Governor in 
the Indian Nation, I picked out sergeants and privates, 
such as I could find, from volunteer regiments and put 
them in as orderly sergeants, promising them promo- 
tion to the vacancies. A man who would not go 
through this ordeal was supposed here not to be good 
enough stock. This is the plan I adopted in order to 
do the best I could by the command. All I ask is the 
means of filling vacancies as they occur, and I would 
urge that if this Command had originally mustered 
with the commissioned officers and orderly sergeants 
white men it would have been more of a success, 

3rd. When attached to other Commands, it is made 
the scapegoat of all officers. The debris of quarter- 
masters stores and commissary stores is turned over 
to it. It has always in such a case been treated badly. 
Bad wagons, bad mules, bad tents, bad arms, the 
flippant remark being that ‘anything is good enough 
for the d——-d Indians.’ 

4th. There ought always to be white troops with the 
Indian troops. I urge these considerations on your 
Excellency. I would be unworthy of the command 
entrusted to me if I failed to struggle for a remedy. 
I make the appeal because it concerns the honor and 
interest of the Government, believing that you will 
feel profound concern [in] it what I submit to you.” 

—Letter quoted by Annie Heloise Abel in “The In- 
dian Under Reconstruction,” pp. 101-02. 


APPENDIX XXIX—2. 
KANSAS CATTLE RUSTLERS. 


Kansas City, Mo., November 2, 1863. 
Major-General Schofield, 
Commanding Department of the Missouri: 

Just arrived via Fort Scott. Blunt has gone to Fort 
Smith with a large Government train, 200 wagons, 
loaded with contraband of war. He is partner. He 
openly defies you and the Government. Lane has en- 
couraged him. The goods are to be sold to rebels. 
Allow me to suggest the stoppage of the train and its 
search, via Cassville. The report at Fort Scott is 
that a large amount of buried treasure is at Fort 
Smith and Van Buren. I make this statement upon my 
honor as an officer. I believe a treasonable design is 
on foot. If mistaken, no harm can result from an 
examination of the train. McNeil should be warned, 
as I believe there is a design to overawe him. 

WM. WEER, 
Colonel, 10th Kansas Volunteers. 


844 


St. Louis, November 2, 18638. 
Brigadier-General McNeil: 

It is officially reported to me that Major-General 
Blunt has started from Fort Scott for Fort Smith with 
a large train loaded with goods contraband of war, of 
which he is part owner; that he openly defies me and 
the Government. You will at once search the train 
and ascertain the truth of this matter. If you find 
the report true, you will arrest General Blunt in my 
name and send him to St. Louis. If he refuses to obey 
the order of arrest, or refuses to turn over the com- 
mand to you and return to Leavenworth, you will 
inert him by force and send him to St. Louis under 
guard. 

You will seize all contraband goods and arrest all 
persons engaged in contraband trade. 

J. M. SCHOFIELD, 
Major-General. 


Camp Near Fort Smith, Ark., 
November 24, 1863. 
General Schofield, 
Commanding District of Missouri. 

Sir: This evening a train left this post for Fort 
Scott. The teams were used in bringing sutler’s goods 
to this place; they are now loaded with cotton. Yes- 
terday, 50 Government teams brought into Fort Smith 
150 bales, escorted by a portion of the Twelfth Kan- 
sas Volunteers. The train now in transit to Fort 
Scott consists of about 100 two and four horse and 
mule teams, and mostly loaded with cotton. From 
what I can learn, a portion of the same has been 
purchased, at a very small price, and the balance 
captured; and, from all appearances, I should think 
some one high in military rank was engaged in the 
operation. 

I am, general, Yours most respectfully, 

Ww. T. CAMPBELL, 
Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Comdg. 6th Regt. Kansas Vol. Cavalry. 

General Ewing: 

You can forward this if you think necessary. 

Ww. T. CAMPBELL. 

—Official Records, Vol. XXII, Part II, p. 689-90 and 
714. 

Fort Smith, Ark., December 1, 1863. 
Major-General Schofield: 

The train General Blunt brought through from Fort 
Scott is here—248 [wagons], by this morning’s report. 
All not repairing are in use, collecting wheat and 
corn for grinding, carrying stores to troops in the 
field, or collecting forage. The post quartermaster has 
60 more wagons in forage and feed business. I have 
sent no train to Little Rock because I have neither 
been able to get wagons from the quartermaster nor 
supply mounted guard. There is a train within 80 
miles, on the Line Road, which, when it arrives, I ex- 
pect to have transportation so that I can draw on 
Little Rock for supplies. The 14th Kansas Cavalry 
are with it. The train to Little Rock should start 
each month and be 200 wagons, each with a strong 
guard. We make no requisition on Fort Scott, but have 
on Springfield. I did not report on McDonald stock, 
as the provost marshal found it only an ordinary 
stock of merchandise. My personal observations con- 
firm this report. The ostensible parties are McDonald 
and Brooks. General Blunt has not returned to Fort 
Leavenworth. He is acting under authority of the 
War Department as commissioner to raise the llth 
Regiment Colored Troops. He asked my aid in 
that capacity. Desirous to facilitate the service and 
with respect to his rank, I have assigned him an office 
and such assistance as his duty requires. By General 
Blunt’s train, 100,000 rations without flour, and a little 
hard bread. By the coming train, we will have as 
much more, with 20,000 rations of hard bread. The 
supply by each train is badly wanted. 

JOHN McNEIL, 
Brigadier-General, Commanding. 
—Official Records, Vol. XXII, Part II, pp. 727-28. 


Fort Smith, Ark., December 10, 1863. 
[Private.] 


Major-General Schofield. 

General: Everything seems to be moving along reg- 
ularly in this district. General Blunt is still here and 
his immediate friends are urging every effort to pro- 
mote his interests and advancement. Still, all their 


APPENDIX 


efforts are of a subdued nature. We have no more of 
that noisy insolence so much in vogue when General 
Blunt was first relieved. The opinion generally pre- 
vails that Blunt is hand-in-glove with some of the 
army speculators hereabouts, but General McNeil tells 
me that he has failed to find evidence sufficient to 
warrant action. Of course, Blunt and his friends still 
claim that he is not under your orders nor subject to 
your authority; neither do they fail to assault you in 
every conceivable manner, but this circle is rapidly 
narrowing down, numerically speaking. The “Blunt 
circle’ may be select; it certainly is not numerous, 

General McNeil is warmly your friend and is work- 
ing faithfully and energetically. I believe his adminis- 
tration will be a complete success. 

General Blunt announces that he is going to Kan- 
sas “in the course of time.” He holds that he had to 
come here to turn over the command to General Mc- 
Neil and also to attend to his recruiting business. 
General McNeil does not think that either cause justi- 
fied him in coming here; neither does any other 
sensible person. 

I will endeavor to let nothing of importance to you 
escape my observation along the line of my route and, 
on my return, will give you the benefit of my observa- 
tion and experience. I hope to be through here the 
first of next week and shall return by way of Fort 
Scott. If I can be of service in other ways than I am 
at present, I hope you will advise me. 

While General McNeil treats General Blunt with 
studied courtesy, I think he knows him thoroughly and 
is watching him closely. Many subordinate matters 
I can talk to you about on my return. I must con- 
gratulate you on the kindness and cordiality [with 
which] I have invariably heard you spoken of and the 
earnest wishes expressed for your final triumph over 
the “embattled hosts of darkness,’ to all of which I 
most heartily cry, “Amen.” 

Most truly yours, 
CHAMPION VAUGHAN. 


—Official Records, Vol. XXII, Part II, pp. 738-39. 


APPENDIX XXIX—3. 
GENERAL HERRON ON OFFICAL CORRUPTION, 


Fort Gibson, C. N., November 18, 1864. 
Lieut. Col. C. T. Christensen, 
Assistant Adjutant General, New Orleans, 

I reached this place on the evening of the 16th in- 
stant, after a tedious trip of three days from Fort 
Smith, by the route on the north side of the river. 
This post is garrisoned by three regiments of Indians, 
Colonel Wattles in command. I find matters controlled 
here by the same influence that governs at Fort Smith 
and, indeed, the same that governs the entire District 
of the Frontier. The troops at Gibson have been for 
three months on short allowance and, at the present 
time, are getting the next thing to nothing. In addi- 
tion to the 1,800 soldiers to be fed here, there are 
about 6,000 loyal refugee Indians, mostly Creeks, that 
have been driven from home, and the Government has 
undertaken to feed them while the war lasts. The con- 
tract to furnish them supplies is let every six months 
and, for the first six months of 1864, was taken by A. 
McDonald & Co. It is now in the hands of Carney, 
Stevens & Co., of Leavenworth. There is no question 
but that the contractors and Indian agents have com- 
mitted great wrongs against these refugees, and are 
doing so yet. The matter is committed entirely to 
the Interior Department but, if some attention is not 
given to it by the military authorities, there will be 
trouble with these Indians next spring. Col. William 
A. Phillips, of the Third Indian Regiment, who is the 
best officer they have ever had in the Indian Brigade 
and who managed matters admirably, both for the 
Government and the Indians, while he was in command 
here, was removed by the influence of McDonald & 
Co., and, after being kept off duty for a month, was 
placed on a court martial at Fort Smith, where he now 
is. In my opinion, he should be ordered back without 
delay. It is quite difficult to explain by letter the 
actual condition of affairs, but I have collected all the 
items and records and will make a full statement on 
my return to New Orleans. The route from this point 
to Fort Smith I consider impracticable and I have 
instructed General Thayer to at once make arrange- 


nell 


APPENDIX 


ments for supplying Fort Smith from Little Rock. If 
the road from here to Fort Scott is what they repre- 
sent it to be, this garrison should be supplied from 
that point, though many articles could be brought by 
river if advantage is taken of high water. I will re- 
port more fully on the route after going over it. I 
desire to correct one statement made in a former re- 
port relative to McDonald & Co. I stated that they 
had driven 25,000 head of cattle from this country, 
which is not correct. They have taken from here, 
through their agents, from 6,000 to 10,000 head. The 
others were taken by different operators from Kansas 
and several officers are said to have been mixed up in 
the affair. I will examine the matter more fully. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
F. J. HERRON, 
Major General. 


APPENDIX XXIX—4. 
CATTLE RUSTLING IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 


Fort Scott, Kansas, July 19, 1864. 
Col. William A. Phillips: 

Sir: On my arrival at the Osage Mission, I found 
150 head of cattle in possession of the Osage Indians, 
belonging to the Creek Nation, but as soon as the 
Osage Indians found that I was after them they scat- 


tered the cattle and it was impossible for me to fol-. 


low them, but i could find all over this country cattle 
in the Cherokee and Creek brands. I could not find 
any commissioned officers at Osage Mission to aid me 
in my search. Captain Johnson, of the 15th Kansas, 
was in command of the soldiers that assisted the 
Osage Indians in driving the cattle out of the nation. 
I find that it is very difficult to obtain any informa- 
tion from the officials in Kansas, with the exception 
of Colonel Blair. He has given me all the information 
in his power and all of the assistance that is possible. 
There has been a great quantity of cattle driven from 
the Indian country within the last month: I can safely 
say 6,000 or 7,000. I find in the herds in the vicinity of 
Fort Scott a good many of the Cherokee cattle but, as 
Captain Ta-la-lah and the Creek lieutenant have left 
me and returned to Gibson, I have no way of establish- 
ing the fact of them being cattle belonging to loyal or 
disloyal persons. The cattle are here in the different 
herds, but I can do nothing further than ascertain the 
fact as I cannot take any action without witnesses. 
I find that some herds have been driven still farther 
north. I shall follow one of them that has been driven 
in the direction of the Osage River. I think that, on 
my return to Gibson, I will bring with me several 
prisoners that I intend to arrest when I get ready to 
return, for I have got the dead wood on them, but I 
do not want to arrest them until I am ready to leave. 
I will be back as soon as possible. 
Yours, respectfully, 
H. S. ANDERSON, 
Captain, Commanding Third Indian Regiment. 
Official Records, Vol. XLI, Part II, p. 265. 


Headquarters Indian Brigade, 
Fort Gibson, C. N., February 16, 1865. 
Major-General Canby, 
Commanding Mil. Div. of West Mississippi, 
New Orleans, 

Sir: I desire to notify you of encroachments on the 
rights of the people of the Indian Nation from the 
Department of Kansas, by citizens thereof and volun- 
teer officers and soldiers stationed there. I desire that 
you communicate with the major-general commanding 
the Division of Missouri, to secure his assistance in 
putting a stop to evils that have assumed fearful pro- 
portions and for the protection of interests so justly 
entitled to it. I desire to state that, for nearly a year 
past, there has been a systematic and wholesale plun- 
dering and driving of stock from the Indian Nation 
to Kansas. Part of this is the property of loyal sol- 
diers in our service, part of loyal citizens and part of 
disloyal persons now in arms against us or aiding 
those who are. The devastations of war have depopu- 
lated the Creek Nation; two-thirds of the homes in the 
Cherokee Nation are abandoned. The rebel, or dis- 
loyal Indians are clustered in colonies on the streams 
tributary to Red River. The loyal Indians, who ad- 
here to our cause, are clustered around Fort Gibson 
or in colonies depending on it for protection, | The 
stock, or herds, of all, or what is left of it, is, of 


845 


course, scattered or unwatched on its range. This 
condition of affairs invited the somewhat wholesale 
enterprises by which it has been driven into Kansas. 
The Arkansas River, for the past two years, may be 
said to have been the boundary between the belliger- 
ants. Since the seige of Gibson was raised, in July, 
1868, by General Cooper, no rebel army has camped 
on its southern banks. It is true, considerable mounted 
parties have crossed it. A train was captured, sixty 
miles in the rear of this place, in September last, by a 
large mounted force, but north of the river, or even 
fifty miles south of it, any rebel occupancy is only of 
the character of raids. I obtain all of the beef for the 
command, and for many of the refugees, south of the 
river, or from stock subject to be taken by the enemy. 
I merely desire to show that there is no necessity for 
commands of troops to enter the nation, 150 miles in 
my rear, on the pretext of scouting, which really 
drive off cattle. I would inform you that a very con- 
siderable portion of such stock was driven off by 
troops from Kansas. I will mention two cases in 
which there is ample and clear testimony. Captain 
Vittum, of the 38d Wisconsin Cavalry, last April, 
entered the nation with a train. On his return, he 
gathered a heard of 500 or 600 and drove it out. The 
same officer entered the nation about the last of May 
or first of June, as escort for two officers coming down 
to Fort Smith. He stopped about forty miles above 
Gibson and went back, driving out a large herd. He is 
now provost-marshal at Fort Scott, which will give 
you an idea of police regulations on the northern bor- 
der of the nation, on which [I have to lean. On applica- 
tion to General Curtis, last summer, I was informed 
that the matter was merely one for ajudication in the 
courts. In the nation there is no Federal court in time 
of peace—not even the Indian courts exist now. The 
necessary protection is dependent to a great extent on 
the military power temporarily existing. I think I 
ean stop it here; if I had horses for my men, at least, 
I could, with codperation from above or [sic] respect 
from them to orders issued here. The Indian soldiers 
are more to be trusted for their own protection than 
others. They are amenable to each other as well as to 
the Government. Most of the white regiments that 
have entered the Indian Nation commit more or less 
depredations. They treat it as if it were an enemy’s 
country. I, however, desired through you to secure 
sufficient protection from the department above to 
stop the nefarious system which appears to have a 
thorough organization in the state of Kansas, believ- 
ing that, unless prompt steps were taken, the same 
nefarious transactions would be continued this sea- 
son. I enclose a copy of an order I issued to meet the 
evil. The case of the Indian Nation is peculiar. The 
Secretary of the Treasury decided that “it was not a 
state in rebellion” and, consequently, sends no Treas- 
ury agents here. The question as to what is contra- 
band has been held in abeyance, as I understand it. 
The order was therefore framed to meet the exigencies 
of the case and, as far as practicable, carry out the 
instructions under which the Indian commands were 
raised, or which have been sent from time to time by 
the Interior Department. I also enclose a copy of a 
letter from one of the Indian agents, a copy of a per- 
mit taken from a man who had a stolen herd, and an 
extract from detective’s report. Some of the permits 
from Superintendent Coffin are short. I send one 
which seems to have restrictions. Mr. Hamilton, to 
whom it was given, has been a large dealer in stolen 
stock. As far as my observation goes, not one of these 
transactions, said to be made in the adjoining state, is 
genuine; as, indeed, there could be no security for it. 
I desire that either the provisions of orders be carried 
out and respect to them secured at the military posts 
on the Kansas border, or that other steps be taken to 
correct the evil. 

I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your 


obedient servant, 
WM. A. PHILLIPS, 
Colonel 3d Indian Regiment, Commanding. 


[Inclosure No. 1] 


Ohio City, Kans., January 12, 1865. 
Lieut. John Chess, 
Fort Gibson, 
Dear Sir: For nearly six months, one R. Lombard, 
a half-breed Quapaw Indian, has been incarcerated in 
the military prison at Fort Gibson. I would be much 


846 


obliged if you would see the commander of the post 
and inform me the charges against him. His family is 
in a bad condition and needs him much. I am sure he 
was enticed to the Cherokee country by whites, who, 
I understand, have been released, and other Indians 
who accompanied him have been released. Why he is 
thus kept is more than I can see. The order of General 
Curtis, at any rate, makes it no military crime to 
obtain cattle from that country. I wish you would 
give me all the particulars of his offenses, trial and 
condemnation. He may have been kept there without 
charges or trial, as thousands of privates and citizens 
have been, merely at the pleasure of the commander. 
I hardly think, from what I know of the commander 
of that post, that this can be true. If possible, I hope 
he will be released. I do not see how the interests of 
the military service of the Government can be sub- 
served by so long an imprisonment and I know the 
effect on the Indians is decidedly bad, and will mili- 
tate against the Government unless there is the best 
of cause. Please see the commander and let me hear 
from you. 
Yours, truly, 
P. P. ELDER, 


U. S. Neosho Indian Agent. 


{Inclosure No. 2] 


Office Southern Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 
Leavenworth, Kans., September 22, 1864. 
Alexander Hamilton, Esq., 

Humboldt, Kans., 

Sir: By authority in me vested, as superintendent 
of Indian affairs, I hereby authorize and permit you 
to purchase cattle of the Indians within the Indian 
Territory under all the rules, restrictions and liabili- 
ties prescribed by the U. S. laws regulating trade and 
intercourse with the Indian tribes and, in addition 
thereto, in consequence of the vast amount of illicit 
and unlawful trade now carried on within said Terri- 
tory, I hereby prescribe the following additional regu- 
lations from which you will in no wise deviate: For 
all stock purchased, you will take bill of sale describ- 
ing particularly the quality of the same, their num- 
ber and ages, whether steers, cows, calves, heifers or 
bulls, and the price paid for the same, the payment of 
which to be attested by two competent witnesses. The 
bills of sale must be signed by the Indians of whom 
you purchase and approved by the chiefs or head men 
of the tribe to whom the parties belong. Whenever 
purchases are made by you within the limits of any 
Indian reservation or of any tribe of Indians being in 
charge of an agent, the purchases and bills of sale 
thereof must be approved and certified to by said 
agent. You will then drive the stock thus purchased 
to some convenient point in Kansas and there stop 
and hold them and report to me at my office in Leav- 
enworth City. Submit your bills for purchases for 
examination and, in no case, sell or drive, or permit 
to be sold or driven away, any of such stock until a 
thorough examination of the same and of the bill of 
sale thereof is made, and said bill of sale is approved 
and endorsed by me, or in my absence, you will report 
in like manner to Major-General Curtis, commanding 
the Department of Kansas, and await his orders or 
approval before moving or disposing of such stock. 

Given under my hand this day and date above 


written, 
W. G. COFFIN. 
[Inclosure No. 3] 


Belmont, Kans., August 22, 1864. 
Captain Phillips: 


On my way home, I stopped at Ohio City, Kans. 
There I had a talk with Major Elder. I saw a herd of 
eattle, Indian stock. He gave $4,000 for them. He 
acknowledged they were stolen and deprecated the 
act. The party he purchased from gave him a copy of 
the permit from Colonel Coffin, which authorized them 
to get stock. Elder would not show me the copy of 
Coffin’s pass, nor tell me the name or names of the 
parties of whom he purchased. He said he took the 
precaution to get the copy to secure his title should 
the cattle be seized by any authority. 


JOEL MOODY, 
Detective. 


~~ 


APPENDIX 


Headquarters Indian Brigade, 
Fort Gibson, C. N., February 16, 1865. 
Maj. Gen. John Pope, 

Commanding Military Division of the Missouri: 

Sir: I desire to call your attention to depredations 
and encroachments on the Indian Territory by parties 
from the Department of Kansas. Parties from Kansas, 
both citizens and soldiers, have during the past year 
entered the nation and driven out herds of stock. 
Since I returned from Fort Smith, I have endeavored 
to arrest them but, as I am now without a cavalry 
force, and as the country to be protected is very ex- 
tensive, it appears impossible to put a stop to it with- 
out some codperation with the department above. J] 
learned yesterday evening from scouts up toward the 
Big Bend, that two parties, one of twelve horsemen 
and the other of fifteen, drove out herds toward Kan-- 
sas abdut a month ago. The Indian soldiers were 
under the impression, from the size and appearance 
of the horseshoes, that the parties might have been 
cavalry. In any event, cavalry parties, or parties of 
cavalry and citizens drove out herds repeatedly last 
season. Captain Vittum, 3d Wisconsin Cavalry (now 
provost-marshal at Fort Scott), while down last 
April, escorting a train for this command, drove out 
a herd of about 500 head. This same officer, in June, 
was sent in with a squadron of cavalry to escort 
Colonels Bowen and Adams, of the 13th and 12th 
Kansas, en route to this Command. Captain Vittum 
only came within forty miles of Gibson and went 
back, driving a large herd of cattle. My detectives 
and some officers and soldiers, sent after them, 
examined the herd but could not obtain it. Captain 
Johnson, 15th Kansas Cavalry, with the men of his 
Command, proceeded across the Arkansas River and 
drove out a large herd, last summer. I think he 
went several times, but one case can be clearly proven. 
As I am instructed to take necessary steps to pro- 
tect the property of these people, I ask you for the 
assistance in the adjoining department which I am 
sure you will be inclined to give. The matter is ren- 
dered much more complicated from the fact that some 
of those whose duty it is to protect them are undoubt- 
edly in league with the thieves. Superintendent Cof- 
fin has been giving permits to buy. These citizen 
thieves pretend also to have and, in fact, exhibited 
when arrested, papers purporting to be passes into 
Kansas from Military commanders. To show you the 
precise character of the transactions, I have only to 
state that the whole Verdigris River country and 
nearly all of the Creek country and large portions of 
the Cherokee country are entirely depopulated. The 
men are soldiers in the army and many of them clus- 
tered near this post for protection. There is in fact, 
no one to sell to them in the country where they got 
the cattle; such sales, as a general rule, are mere 
pretexts that could deceive no one. Citizens of the 
State of Kansas also employ Kansas Indians, Osages 
and Delawares, to come in and steal. With these, 
bogus bills of sale are in some cases no doubt exe- 
cuted. It is apparent that this can only lead to diffi- 
culty. I enclose a letter just received from the Osage 
agent in reference to a half-breed who was caught, 
last summer, with a herd of stolen cattle, tried by a 
military commission and is now serving out sentence 
thereof. I also inclose an order I issued after I 
returned from Fort Smith. The order is in some 
respects peculiar, because the case is peculiar. The 
Secretary of the Treasury has decided that the Indian 
Nation is not ‘a state in rebellion” and sends no 
Treasury agents here. The question as to contraband 
is, as I understand it, still held in abeyance. Under 
the circumstances, I merely did the best I could, as 
I was directed, and forward a copy to give you a better 
idea of the difficulties it was designed to meet, so as 
to suggest any assistance in the protection of the 
rights of the Indians here that you might deem proper. 

I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your 


obedient servant, 
WM. A. PHILLIPS. 
Colonel, Commanding. 
Bee pags lot Records, Series I, Vol. XLVIII, Part I, pp. 


“Cattle-driving In The Indian Country” 


“The Federal troops reached Tahlequah, July, 1862. 
After a duration of about ten months all told, the 


APPENDIX 


Cherokee alliance with the South was, so far as the 
Principal Chief and the fullbloods were concerned, at 
an end, notwithstanding that the treaty was not at 
once abrogated and that the Ridge faction, led by 
Stand Watie and his nephew, E. C. Boudinot, con- 
tinued loyal to its promises. Divided interests and 
divided councils worked as always great havoc. The 
Cherokee country became the legitimate prey of both 
armies, Cherokee cattle the victims of constant ma- 
rauding. The freed blacks had a share, too, in the 
general robbery. They were reported by the Federals 
as pillaging ‘indiscriminately, as well from the Union 
Indians as from the rebels.’ Beyond the Arkansas lay 
the country of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, allies of 
the South. Their property the Federals regarded as le- 
gally contraband; but even if so it ought not to have 
been subject, as it regularly was, to individual re- 
prisal. The private citizen acted as if he had as good 
a right to it as the government. 

“For the seizing of the live-stock, white men em- 
ployed irresponsible parties, usually Indians, the less- 
civilized of the Leased District, forsooth, or wandering 
Kickapoos, Shawnees, and Delawares, none of whom 
had any compunctions in the matter but treated it as 
sport and as a gainful occupation. Most of them had 
no property of their own to lose, being homeless, and 
some had a grievance of long-standing against the 
Choctaws and Chickasaws. Some of the stock was 
driven north into Kansas and there disposed of; some, 
the army applied to its own needs; but by far the 
largest portion went into the hands of contractors, 
who sold it to the government for the use of the 
refugees and at a most exorbitant figure. Profiteering 
on so enormous a scale and conducted with such 
shameless audacity had surely never before been 
Known in that locality or anywhere on the frontier. 
After a time the pillages grew bolder and laid violent 
hands upon the stock of the loyal Cherokees and 
Creeks. To capture the Creek stock undisturbed was 
not a difficult undertaking since the Creeks, removed 
from Kansas, had not been suffered to go to their 
own homes to look after their possessions. Fully aware 
that they were being sold at the very highest of 
prices their very own cattle, they were yet obliged 
to linger in the Cherokee country, the pretext of their 
guardian being that in no other way could they be 
protected. Their indignation, their resentment, and 
their consciousness of intolerable wrong can easily 
be imagined. 

“From time to time, through the years just passed, 
complaints made their way to Washington and, be- 
ginning with 1864, were of so serious a character 
that they could no longer be safely ignored. Army 
men, although one-time offenders themselves and still 
so on occasion, professed to be horrified at the extent 
of the illicit traffic. Their sensitiveness may, in the 
original instance, have been kindled by personal antip- 
athy to certain contractors who had encroached upon 
the preserves of the army sutlers; but their moral 
sense developed with their honest appreciation of the 
righteousness of the cause which they had espoused. 
They impugned the motives of government officials of 
all ranks; they implicated particular persons of high 
position in a general charge of wrong-doing, while 
most of their own offences they were able satisfac- 
torily to account for. ‘ 

“The autumn of 1864 found things in a bad way in 
the Indian country. The backwardness of the spring, 
the summer drought, swarms of grasshoppers, chinch- 
bugs and innumerable other insect pests had all af- 
fected the Kansas crops upon which those entrusted 
with the care of the refugees had expected to place 
their chief reliance. The Red River expedition, con- 
ducted by Generals Banks and Frederick Steele, had 
ended in egregious disaster. Its failure had dealt a 
terrific blow to refugee restoration under Federal 
auspices. Furthermore, it had obviously_prevented a 
rather general stampede of secessionist Indians from 
the Confederate ranks. On the eve of its being under- 
taken, they were about to desert in a body; for they 
Were disgusted with and greatly affronted by the 
treatment that had been accorded them and were not 
only dubious but actually despairing of the eventuality 
of a Southern victory. They staked their dice on one 
last throw and the almost undreamed-of success jus- 
tified an entire change in their plans. Their spirits 
were buoyed up anew. Not surprising, is it, that Colo- 


847 


nel Phillips thought them—they were chiefly Choctaws 
and Chickasaws—absolutely unreliable and that he, in 
consequence of their fluctuating tendencies and their 
flouting of his friendly advances, grew vindictive and 
advised against making any terms with them until 
they had been made to rue their own original defec- 
tion? As already narrated, he vehemently objected to 
a favorable reception of the New Hope conventionists; 
for he was not willing, as was the just and magnani- 
mous president, whose amnesty proclamation he had 
been industriously circulating, to build a new struc- 
ture upon the basis of a loyal minority. In_ the 
punishment to be meted out betimes to the Red River 
tribes he, a Kansan by adoption, saw the possibility 
of relief for Kansas, relief, that is, from her Indian 
encumbrance. The forfeited and confiscated Choctaw 
and Chickasaw lands would afford excellent accommo- 
dation for the tribes whose knell as property-holders 
in the region consecrated to freedom had been sounded 
when the Kansas-Nebraska Bill with what a noted 
Kansan has so pertinently called its ‘glittering gen- 
eralities’ had passed to its enactment. A successful 
termination to the Red River expedition [Col. Phil- 
lips’] would have meant a return of peace and security 
to the whole Indian Territory. The refugees would 
then have ceased to fret at their inchoate restora- 
tion. As it was, they remembered only too well that 
their unalleviated sufferings of the previous winter 


‘bade fair to be repeated and they dreaded that repe- 


tition. Their grain fields and their vegetable gar- 
dens were at that very moment being despoiled. Under 
the circumstances, what of hope and trust had they 
to build upon? They murmured at the miserable in- 
completeness of their restoration and they chafed 
under the restraints that reduced them to penury. 
In Kansas, the tribes chafed likewise. Farm products 
were exceedingly scarce and their regular buffalo 
hunt had, because of the hostilities of the tribes of 
the plains, been peremptorily forbidden. It was Gen- 
eral Curtis’ intention to start a vigorous campaign 
against the Kiowas and raiders in complicity with 
them and he wanted, so he affirmed, to run no risks 
of confounding friends with foes, hence his order that 
peaceful hunters should stay at home, hungry though 
they might be, on their barren reservations. Their 
absolute dependence upon the hunt for a livelihood 
he chose to ignore. Their sufferings were a matter of 
indifference to him. Against the shortsightedness and 
arbitrariness of his order the Indian Office protested, 
but in vain. Military expediency won the day but 
military effectiveness did not rid the country of the 
raiders.” 
—Abel in 
74-82. 


“The Indian under Reconstruction,” pp. 


APPENDIX XXIX—5. 
PETER P. PITCHLYNN. 


Just as the Choctaws had been first in espousing the 
cause of the seceding states, so they were seemingly 
the first to take thought for eventualities in the pos- 
sible downfall of the Confederacy, although, having 
been practically unanimous in their original declara- 
tion as compared with the other tribes of the eastern 
part of the Indian Territory, as a nation they main- 
tained their allegiance to the Confederacy to the end. 
In the tribal election of 1864, the Choctaws elected 
Peter P. Pitchlynn for the office of principal chief of 
the Nation. (Two years previous to this time, at the 
end of George Hudson’s term of office, Samuel Gar- 
land, of white and Choctaw descent, had been elected 
and served a term as chief. Garland was reported to 
have been Union in his sympathies at one time dur- 
ing his administration. He had served on the delega- 
tion of the Net Proceeds claim with Peter P. Pitchlynn 
since 1853.) Pitchlynn, who had long been prominent 
in the Choctaw Nation, made no secret of the fact 
that his sympathies were with the Union, though he 
had not actively opposed the course chosen by his 
people when he found that they were so nearly unani- 
mous. Still, his election, under the circumstances, 
may be fairly regarded as indicating that the Choc- 
taws wished to be in a position to make the best 
terms possible in event that the issue of the war 
should go against them. Nor was it a poor choice, for 
Pitchlynn was a farsighted and shrewd counselor to 
his people, his influence being felt far beyond the 
borders of the Choctaw Nation. 


848 


Peter P. Pitchlynn was born in Noxubee County, 
Mississippi, January 30, 1806. His father, John Pitch- 
lynn, was a white man who settled among the Choc- 
taws about 1780, later marrying Sophia Folsom of 
Choctaw descent. (Her father, Ebenezer Folsom, was 
a white man, a native of North Carolina and of New 
England extraction.) Before there were any schools 
among the Choctaws, Peter P. Pitchlynn was sent to 
Tennessee where he attended an academy: subse- 
quently, he entered the University of Nashville, where 
he pursued a full course and graduated. Returning 
home from school once as a boy, he found his people 
making a new treaty with the Government, some of 
the terms of which he so strongly disapproved that 
he refused to shake hands with Gen. Andrew Jackson, 
who was one of the Government commissioners. Al- 
though he afterward became a very warm friend of 
General Jackson, he never became reconciled to the 
treaty, which was the first of those that provided for 
the sale of Choctaw lands in Mississippi and for the 
removal of his people to the West. In 1828, although 
he was but little more than a youth in years, he ac- 
companied the Choctaw and Chickasaw delegation on 
an exploring expedition to what is now Oklahoma, 
prospective of the settlement of the two nations in 
this country. The journey was made by way of Mem- 
phis and St. Louis to Independence, Missouri. Leaving 
that settlement the party made its way directly into 
the country of the Osages, who had been hereditary 
enemies of the Choctaws for many generations. The 
Osages were not inclined to consider any offer of 
peace at first but, in the end, the boldness and diplo- 
macy of Peter P. Pitchlynn convinced them and the 
pipe of peace was smoked. . 

After the treaty at Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, 
Pitchlynn took an active part as a leader of some of 
the first migrating parties of Choctaws to the Indian 
Territory. He was one of the list of special persons 
mentioned in the Removal Treaty, who received a 
land claim of several sections of the tribal domain in 
Mississippi. Disposing of this to advantage, he in- 
vested the proceeds in negro slaves that he brought 
with him to the new country in the West. One of his 
plantations, among the first in Southeastern Okla- 
homa, is pointed out today near EHagletown, just east 
of the bridge across the Mountain Fork River, on the 
highway between Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and the 
Arkansas line. 

In 1853, Pitchlynn was appointed by the Choctaw 
Council as one of the delegation to Washington to 
further the Net Proceeds claim, and from that time 
was a frequent visitor to the National Capitol. He 
was personally acquainted with Henry Clay and 
Charles Dickens who described him as a man of great 
physical beauty and a natural orator. At the outbreak 
of the Civil War, Pitchlynn was in Washington, when 
he called upon President Lincoln and assured him 
that he hoped to be able to hold the Choctaws neutral 
during the impending struggle. He is said to have 
remained firm in his attachment for the Union, though 
three sons were in the Confederate Army. As a result 
of the War, he lost a large amount of property. He 
was one of the leaders of the Choctaw delegation 
during the negotiations of the Treaty of 1866 with the 
United States. From that time he lived permanently 
in Washington, where he died in 1881 and was buried 
in the Congressional Cemetery, Gen. Albert Pike pro- 
nouncing the eulogy. 


APPENDIX XXIX—6. 
TANDY WALKER. 


Tandy Walker was born in Mississippi on October 
11, 1814. He was of mixed Choctaw and white blood, 
his father, who also bore the name of Tandy Walker, 
being the son of John Walker, a white man, and Mary 
Riddle of the Choctaw Indians. It is interesting to 
note that the Walker family had descendants in both 
the Choctaw and the Wyandotte tribes, who made 
their mark in history. 

John Walker, who was of an old Virginia family 
of Scotch descent, first married a Miss Long in Vir- 
ginia, and they became the parents of William Walker 
who was captured by the Delawares, adopted some- 
time later by the Wyandottes, and afterward married 
Mary Rankin of the Wyandotte tribe. Their son, also 


APPENDIX 


named William Walker, became the Provincial Gov- 
ernor of Nebraska. Gov. William Walker was the 
great-grandfather of the late B. N. O. Walker, a 
Wyandotte, of Miami, Oklahoma, author of ‘Tales of 
the Bark Lodges,” a book of poems published under 
the pen-name of “Hentoh.” 

Upon the death of his first wife, John Walker 
moved to the Choctaw Nation, in Mississippi, where 
he married Mary Riddle, reported to have been a very 
beautiful girl whose mother was a Choctaw and whose 
father was a white man from Virginia. Their son, 
Tandy Walker ist, of the Choctaw Indians, it will be 
seen from the above data, was the half-uncle of Gov. 
William Walker of the Wyandotte Indians; and his 
son, Tandy Walker 2d, was a distant cousin of the 
late B. N. O. Walker, or “Hentoh.” 

Tandy Walker ist, was prominent among his people 
while they were living in Mississippi and became well 
Known as an “experienced and daring backwoods- 
man.” He served as a scout for Gen. Andrew Jackson 
in the Creek War and also served in the Seminole War 
of 1817-19. He was severely wounded while serving 
as a scout with the Mississippi Volunteers, under the 
command of Gen. John F. B. Claiborne, and received a 
pension from the United States in 1828. 

Tandy Walker 2d, was a leader among his people, 
after they migrated to the Indian Territory. As presi- 
dent of the Choctaw Senate under the “Skullyville 
Constitution,” he became the governor of the Choc- 
taw Nation upon the resignation of Alfred Wade 
from that office in 1857. He served in that capacity 
until the regular election for governor in 1858. At the 
outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the Confederate 
military service in the First Choctaw and Chickasaw 
Regiment, becoming lieutenant-colonel of that organ- 
ization. On the promotion of its colonel, Douglas H. 
Cooper, to the grade of brigadier-general, Tandy 
Walker succeeded to the command of the regiment 
with the rank of colonel. Upon the organization of 
the Confederate troops of the Indian Territory into 
the Indian Division, under the command of General 
Cooper, Colonel Walker was given command of the 
Choctaw and Chickasaw brigade in which position he 
distinguished himself as a capable leader. He was a 
man of liberal and progressive views, though like 
Col. E. C. Boudinot, of the Cherokee Nation, his popu- 
larity was not enhanced thereby. He died at his home 
at Skullyville, February 2, 1877. (There was a Tandy 
Walker 3d, nephew of Tandy Walker 2d, and a son of 
Lewis Walker. He was well Known in the Choctaw 
Nation, until his death a few years ago, at Stonewall, 
Oklahoma. Tandy Walker 2d was also survived by a 
son who bore the same name.) 


APPENDIX XXIX—7. 
STAND WATIE. 


Stand Watie was born about 1806 at Oo-yoo-ge-lo-gi 
near the present town of Rome, Georgia. His father, 
Oo-wa-tie, was a full-blood Cherokee and his mother 
was a half-blood, her father having been a white 
man by the name of Reese. Neither of his parents 
could speak English. His given name was Degataga 
which, rendered into English, signifies “standing to- 
gether,” whence came his English name, Stand. His 
surname was a contraction of his father’s given name. 
Elias Boudinot, also known as Buck Watie (Gah-li- 
gi-nah), was a brother of Stand Watie and was two 
or three years his senior. Major Ridge was his father’s 
brother. Stand Watie did not learn to speak English 
until he was a grown man and always betrayed a 
slight accent in conversation. He signed the treaty 
of New Echota, under the terms of which the Chero- 
kees were removed to the West, and it was said that 
the conspirators who planned the assassination of the 
Ridges and Boudinot, in June, 1839, intended to kill 
him, also, but he was warned and prepared to defend 
himself. After the tragic death of his brother, uncle, 
and coustn, he became the recognized leader of the 
Treaty, or Ridge Party. After coming to the West 
he made his home on Honey Creek, near the border of 
the Cherokee country and not far from the point 
where the Arkansas-Missouri boundary line intersects 
the Oklahoma state line. He lived there until the out- 
break of the Civil War. He was of modest and retir- 
ing disposition, but was distinguished as a man of 


GENERAL STAND WATIE 


COL. TANDY WALKER 
Choctaw Confederate Commander 


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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


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APPENDIX 


unfaltering courage when thoroughly aroused. At the 
outbreak of the Civil War, he promptly aligned him- 
self on the side of the seceding states and was actively 
identified with it until the end of the struggle. His 
official correspondence, much if not most of which 
has been embodied in the published volumes of the 
Official Records of the Union and Confederate armies, 
reveals in its very terseness the most marked traits 
of his character—brevity, modesty, devotion, and ac- 
tion. He suffered every privation that befell his peo- 
ple, yet no one ever heard a word of complaint from 
his lips, and because of this and his undoubted cour- 
age, for he never ordered his followers into any 
danger where he would not himself go, he held the 
confidence, respect, and love of his soldiers. He was 
of a most humane disposition and no prisoner taken 
by his troops was suffered to be maltreated with his 
knowledge. The end of the war found his farm a 
waste, his flocks and herds gone and himself, like the 
humblest of his followers, homeless and penniless. He 
settled at Webbers Falls and endeavored by energy 
and economy to regain a competence. Within three or 
four years both of his sons, in whom he had centered 
great hopes, died. He lived and labored on a year or 
two longer, until September 2, 1871, while on a visit 
to his old home on Honey Creek (Delaware County), 
he died. His body still reposes in a rural cemetery 
near at hand, the grave being unmarked by any per- 
manent monument. 


APPENDIX XXIX—S. 
CAMP NAPOLEON COUNCIL. 


The Choctaw delegation to the meeting that was 
held at Camp Napoleon was headed by Israel Folsom 
who was elected as president of the “Grand Council 
of the United Indian Nations.” From personal in- 
formation obtained by the writer (M. H. W.) from the 
late Emerson Folsom, son of Israel Folsom who ac- 
companied the Choctaw delegation as one of the mili- 
tary guards, it was learned that most of the Indian 
delegations from the eastern part of the Indian Ter- 
ritory gathered at Fort Washita and proceeded west 
on the Fort Arbuckle road, Upon arriving in the 
vicinity of Council Grove, word was brought in by 
scouts, reporting the contemplated plans of the Fed- 
eral forces. Thereupon the delegations that had al- 
ready gathered proceeded south and west to Cotton- 
wood Grove, about two miles west of the present town 
of Verden, on the Washita River, and set up camp 
which they called Camp Napoleon. Between five and 
six thousand Indians were in attendance at the meet- 
ing at Camp Napleon, many of the Plains Indians 
especially greeting their friends with “tribal signs’ 
which were said to have been very similar to those 
used by the Masonic Order. 

During the negotiations, which lasted several days, 
the Comanches, seconded by the Reserve Indians, were 
bitter in their expressions toward the Texans and ab- 
solutely refused to enter into any sort of an agree- 
ment with the people of that state. (The Texans were 
represented by Gov. James W. Throckmorton and Col. 
W. D. Reagen. A Mexican officer was also said to have 
been present.) In a speech before the great assem- 
blage of Indians, a Comanche chief said that he could 
never forget that his whole family had been attacked 
and killed by some Texans while he himself was away 
from his camp on a buffalo hunt; since he personally 
had never committed any deed to warrant such action, 
he refused to enter into any sort of an alliance with 
the people of Texas. 

According to the letters of Gen. D. H. Cooper, it was 
hoped when the meeting was first planned to draw the 
Comanche and Kiowa Indians and possibly those of 
other tribes of the Plains into an alliance with the 
Confederate States, thus insuring peace on the frontier 
of Texas and also promising serious interference with 
traffic and travel on the overland trails in Kansas and 
Nebraska, but thé surrender of General Lee’s army 
necessarily led to a modification of the last mentioned 
phase of the proposition. A number of white women 
and children who-.had been carried off from the fron- 


_ tier settlements of Texas by the Comanches and Ki- 


owas, were liberated, by ransom or otherwise, at the 
council. 

For further references with regard to the proposed 
meeting at Council Grove, see Official Records of the 


Okla—54 


849 
Union and Confederate armies, Vol. XLVIII, Part I, 
pp. 1266-69, 1270-72, 1279-81, 1301-02, 1306. It will be 


seen from the above data that the meeting was held 
at Camp Napoleon instead of at North Fork Town as 
Cooper thought (see reference in Cooper's letter, Offi- 
cial Records, Vol. XLVIII, Part I, p. 1306). 


Compact Entered Into At Camp Napoleon. 


Compact made and entered into between the Con- 
federate Indian Tribes and the Prairie Tribes of In- 
dians made at Camp Napoleon on Washita River, 
May 26th, 1865. 

Whereas the history of the past admonishes the Red 
Man that his once great and powerful race is rapidly 
passing away as snow before the summer sun, Our 
people of the mighty nations of our forefathers many 
years ago having been as numerous as the leaves of 


_ the forest or the stars of the heavens, but now by the 


vicissitude of time and change and misfortune & the 
evils of disunion, discord and war among themselves 
are but a wreck of their former greatness. Their vast 
and lovely country and beautiful hunting grounds 
abounding in all the luxuries and necessaries of life 
and happiness given to them by the Great Spirit, hav- 
ing known no limits but the shores of the great 
waters & the horizon of the heavens, is now on ac- 
count of our weakness being reduced and hemmed in 
to a small and precarious country that we can scarcely 
call our own, and in which we cannot remain in safety, 
and pursue our peaceful avocations, nor can we visit 
the bones and graves of our Kindred so dear to our 
hearts and sacred to our memories, to pay the tribute 
of respect unless we run the risk of being murdered 
by our more powerful enemies, and whereas, there 
yet remains in the timbered countries, on the plains 
and in the mountains, many Nations and Bands of our 
people, which if united would present a body that 
would afford sufficient strength to command respect 
and assert and maintain our rights, 

Therefore, we, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Muskogees, 
Seminoles, Chickasaws, Reserve Caddos, Reserve 
Osages, and Reserve Commanches composing the Con- 
federate Indian Tribes and allies of the Confederate 
States, of the first part, and our Brothers of the 
plains, the Kiowas, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Lapan, 
and the several bands of the Commanches, the Noco- 
nees, Cochoteks, Lenaweets, Yameparckas, and Moot- 
chas, and Jim Pockmark’s Band of Caddos, and Ana- 
darkos of the second part, do for our peace, happiness 
and the preservation of our race, make and enter into 
the following league or compact, To wit— 

1st, Peace and friendship shall forever exist be- 
tween all the Tribes and Bands parties to this Com- 
pact. The Ancient Council fires of our forefathers, 
already kindled by our brothers of the timbered 
countries, shall be kept kindled and blazing by broth- 
erly love, until their smoke shall ascend to the Spirit 
Land to invoke the blessing of the Great Spirit in all 
our good works. The Tomahawk shall forever be 
buried. The Scalping Knife shall be forever broke. 
The warpath heretofore leading from one Tribe o 
band to another shall grow up and become as the wild 
wilderness. The path of peace shall be opened from 
one Tribe or Band to another, and kept open and 
travelled in friendship, so that it may become whiter 
and brighter as time rolls on, and so that our chil- 
dren in all time to come shall travel no other road, 
and never shall it be stained with the blood of our 
brothers. 

2nd, the parties of this Compact shall compose (as 
our undersigned brothers of the timbered countries 
have done) an Indian Confederacy, or a Band of 
Brothers, having for its object the Peace, the Happi- 
ness and the Protection of all alike, and the preserva- 
tion of our race. In no case shall the warpath be open 
to settle any difficulty or dispute that shall hereafter 
arise between any of the Bands or Tribes parties to 
this Compact or individuals thereof. All difficulties 
shall be settled without the shedding of any blood, 
and by suggestions of the Chiefs and headmen of the 
Tribe, Band or person interested. 

The Motto or principle of the Confederate Indian 
ey shall be “An Indian shall not spill an Indian’s 

ood.” 

In testimony of our sincerity & good faith in ener- 
ing into this Compact, we have smoked the Pipe of 


850 


Peace and extended to each other the hand of friend- 
ship and exchanged the tokens and emblems of Peace 
and friendship peculiar to our Race this the 25th day 
of May, 1865. 

Jack Spears, 2nd Chf. & Actg. Chf. Cherokee Na- 
tion; J. Vann, J. P. Davis, Smallwood, Chas. Downing, 
T. C. Guess, John Chambers, H. T. Martin, W. P. Adair, 
Delegates from Cherokee Nation. 

Tuckabatche Micco, Actg. Chf. Creek Nation; Yar- 
kinhar Micco, Moty Kannard, Tidsey Fixico, Tusta- 
nuck Harjo, Ward Coachney, Nocusyah holer, Pleas- 
ant Porter, Delegates from Creek Nation. 

Israel Folsom, Nathaniel Folsom, Delegates from 
Choctaw Nation. 

Winchester Colbert, Cyrus Harris, 
Delegates from Chickasaw Nation. 

John Jumper, Chf. Seminole Nation: Nocos Harjo, 
Pussah Yahholah, Thos Cloud, George Cloud, Foos 
Harjo, Nokos EHmathlah, Cho HEmathlah, Tooshatche- 
cochookamy, Nocos Emathlochee, Nulthcup Harjo, 
Cahcheille, Abidikey; John Brown, Interpreter; Dele- 
gates from Seminole Nation. 

Tiner, Chf. Reserve Caddo Nation; George Washing- 
ton, Wm. Lieutenant, Chickiyoates, Johnson Washing- 


Ashalatubbee, 


ton, Cahwahamen, Delegates from Reserve Caddo 
Nation. 
Wahtahshimgah, Chf. Osage Nation; Clairmore, 


Nimchamkah, Tally, Wahshashe wahtahingah, Kahnah 
Kahingah, Black Dog Chf., Delegates from Osage 
Nation. 

Toshowah, Chf. Reserve Comanche Band; Ohapsirme, 
2nd Chf. Reserve Comanche Band; Kah ab ba nait, 
Quer re nait, Wahchenim Kah, Delegates from Reserve 
Comanches. 

Tatobecher, Chf. of Kiowa Nation; Tahebecut, Quin- 
atohope, Delegates from Kiowa Nation. 

Little Roan, Chf. Arrapahoe Nation; 
Delegates from Arrapahoe Nation. 


Wistooah toh hope, Chf. and Delegate from Chey- 
enne Nation. 
Chf. & Del. 


W oodercarnervesta, 
Opaches. 
Queniheany, Chf. Noconee Band of Commanche Na- 
tion. 
Mione, Chf. of Cochahkah Band Comanches. 
Boiwa quastak, Chf. of Tinawith Band Comanches. 
Toyekkahnah, Chf. of Yampucka Band Comanches. 
Pahrood sa ma, Chf. of Nooches Band Comanches. 
Buoyenahtoyeh, Del. from Nooches Band Comanches. 
—From one of the original manuscript copies made 
at the time of the meeting at Camp Napoleon and now 
in the hands of the writer (M. H. W.). 


Peatipcent, 


from Lapan band 


APPENDIX XXxX—1. 


CONDITION OF THE FREEDMEN AT THE END OF 
THE CIVIL WAR. 


At the end of the Civil War, all the people of the 
Indian Territory, even those who had been very pros- 
perous at the beginning of the conflict, were in the 
most straitened circumstances. Many families lacked 
the barest necessities of life, so it was but in the 
natural course of events that their former negro slaves 
should also suffer deprivations, however, most of the 
former slave owners did what they could to assist 
their deserving old slaves. The work of the Freed- 
men’s Bureau and leaders at Washington would have 
contributed to the welfare of the negroes in the Indian 
Territory, but it was dominated by persons who were 
extremists in favor of the freedmen and too ignorant 
of actual conditions to benefit the negroes perma- 
nently, for they would have changed the former order 
of life and made the Indian an outcast in his own 


country,—if possible, effaced him from the scene al- 
together. Without doubt the immigration of freedmen 
from the bordering states into the Choctaw and 


Chickasaw country and the subsequent work of the 
Vigilance Committee in these nations, gave rise to 
stories that grew into undue proportions by the time 
that they reached the sympathetic and zealous ears 
of the radical leaders at Washington. As a result, 
an investigation of the condition of the freedmen in 
the Indian Territory was ordered by the Federal Gov- 
ernment, General John B. Sanborn being appointed as 
commissioner “for Regulating Relations between 
Freedmen in the Indian Territory and their former 


APPENDIX 


Masters.’’ Two of the three letters constituting the 
report of General Sanborn to the Secretary of the 
Interior, James Harlan, are illustrative of conditions 
in the Indian Territory at the end of the War. The 
first letter is as follows: 


Fort Smith, Arkansas, 
January 5, 1866. 

Sir: I have the honor to report that, pursuant to 
instructions from you, of date November 20, 1865, I 
have visited the following tribes of Indians, in the 
Indian territory, which formerly held slaves, viz: 
Seminoles, Creeks, Cherokees, and the loyal portion 
of the Chickasaws, under Lewis Johnson, and my 
report is made out and forwarded at this time, before 
visiting the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, for the 
reason that as the condition of the freedmen in these 
nations requires the immediate action of the govern- 
ment, there should be no delay on account of any fail- 
ure of mine to make an early report. The freedmen 
are the most industrious, economical, and, in many 
respects, the more intelligent portion of the population 
of the Indian territory. They all desire to remain in 
that territory upon lands set apart for their own 
exclusive use. 

The Indians who are willing that the freedmen shall 
remain in the territory at all, also prefer that they 
should be located upon a tract of country by them- 
selves. This question has been canvassed much by 
the freedmen and the Indians, and the freedmen have 
come to the conclusion that they are soon to be moved 
upon some tract of country set apart for their exclu- 
sive use, and hence are not inclined to make any im- 
provements where they are, or do any more work than 
is absolutely necessary for their immediate wants. 

The spring or warm season commences early in this 
country, and farmers and planters ordinarily com- 
mence ploughing and planting as early as the first 
of March. Hence you will see that it is of the most 
vital importance that if lands are to be set apart for 
this population it should be done at once, and if not 
they should be so advised immediately, so that they 
will be induced to make other arrangements. Most of 
these freedmen have ox-teams, and among them are 
blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights, &c. The sen- 
timents, prejudices, &c., on the part of the Indian 
nations towards the freedmen at present are as fol- 
lows, viz: 

The Creek Nation look upon the freedmen as their 
equals in rights, and have, or are in favor of, incor- 
porating them into their tribes, with all the rights and 
privileges of native Indians. The Seminoles entertain 
the same or nearly the same sentiments and feelings 
as the Creeks. 

The Cherokees are divided in sentiment. A portion, 
and not a very small portion, think the government 
should move the negroes from their country, as it has 
freed them; while a portion, including the principal 
chief, Downing, are in favor of having them retained 
in the Nation, and located upon some tract of land set 
apart for their exclusive use; and Colonel Downing 
says that this policy will obtain in the nation, and 
that civil rights will be accorded to the freedmen 
before a great while. 

The Choctaw Nation is divided in sentiment, but the 
preponderance of sentiment is strongly against the 
freedmen, and a violent prejudice exists against them 
in that Nation, which time alone will overcome. The 
public men and council acknowledge a change in the 
relations of the former masters and slaves, while a 
large portion of the people do not admit any change 
in these relations, and their action and treatment 
toward them is much the same as formerly, except in 
instances where the freedmen are driven away from 
their former homes by their masters. One freedman 
has been killed at Boggy Depot by his former mas- 
ter, and there are rumors of several other cases, and 
no action has yet been taken by the Government to 
punish the party guilty. . - My own conclusion is 
that the public sentiment of this Nation in regard to 
the freedmen is radically wrong at the present time. 

The Chickasaw Nation is still holding most of their 
negroes in slavery, and entertain a bitter prejudice 
against them all. They have provided by law for the 
gradual emancipation of their slaves, and exclude all 
from the Nation who left it during the war. In other 
words, all negroes who left the country and joined the 


APPENDIX 


Federal army are prohibited from returning. This is 
also true in the Choctaw Nation. It is reported to me 
by the chief, Lewis Johnson [of the loyal Chickasaws], 
that Governor Colbert stated to many people, and 
publicly, before leaving for Washington, that they 
should hold the slaves until they could determine at 
Washington whether or not they could get pay for 
them, and if they could not then they would strip them 
naked and drive them either south to Texas, or north 
to Fort Gibson. So bitter is the feeling against the 
return of the negroes that have been in the Federal 
army, that Major Coleman and myself have concluded 
that it is not safe or advisable for Lewis Johnson and 
party to return until troops are stationed at Arbuckle. 
Many negroes have been shot down by their masters 
in this Nation, and the Government has taken no steps 
to punish the guilty. 

My conclusion is that nothing can be done to ameli- 
orate the condition of the freedmen in the Choctaw 
and Chickasaw nations until there is a proper mili- 
tary force stationed at Boggy Depot, Forts Lawson, 
Washita, and Arbuckle, and that my advent there at 
the present time, to carry into effect your instruc- 
tions, would be the cause of much excitement, while 
nothing would be accomplished, and insults and dis- 
grace be likely to follow. 

The first step towards the accomplishment of any- 
thing for the freedmen of those nations or even to- 
wards enabling the loyal Indians to return with the 
freedmen associated with them, is the garrisoning of 
the military posts. It is possible that much more 
might have been done to change and correct the pub- 
lic sentiment of these nations if all the federal officers 
brought in contact with them had been decided in 
their own ideas that these classes were free, and 
endeavored to impress their views upon the Indians. 
But with the public sentiment and law of these na- 
tions as it is, and the most prominent of the public 
men absent, I am certain that nothing can be accom- 
plished more than to commence the correction of 
public sentiment, which I have endeavored to do by 
eireulars,) >. : 

The condition of public sentiment throughout these 
two nations is no cause for delay on the part of the 
government to make provision at once for the freed- 
men of all the tribes, to go upon tracts of country set 
apart for their own exclusive use, which is so much 
desired by the freedmen and all loyal Indians. There 
are two practicable methods of doing this. The first 
and most desirable is by treaty stipulation with the 
respective nations in the treaties about to be con- 
cluded at Washington. The second is by congressional 
enactment, carried into effect as Congress shall provide. 

There should be set apart a tract large enough to 
give a square mile to every four persons, as there is 
much waste land in the nation. 

The tract or tracts of land should be the most fer- 
tile in the territory, as the freedmen are the princi- 
pal producers, and should in all cases touch either the 
Arkansas or Red River, so’that the crops could be run 
out on flatboats. Reference should be had to timber 
and prairie as well as bottom and uplands. Persons 
not freedmen, living now upon lands so set apart, 
should be allowed the option of remaining or having 
the improvements appraised by three disinterested 
parties, and receiving the appraised value of the same 
from the government. Sixty days from the passage o' 
the act or approval of the treaty should be allowed 
such party to signify his choice to the proper officer. 

Provisions should be made for the survey of such 
tracts, at the earliest time practicable, into sections, 
&ec., and the freedmen over eighteen years of age 
allowed to enter three hundred and twenty acres of 
the same under the homestead law, or by scrip pro- 
vided for the purpose, without power of alienation 
during the life of the party entering the same, or fora 
definite term of years. 

When the tribes know that this policy and course is 
determined upon by the government they will, in my 
judgment, submit to it without any open resistance, 
perhaps without a murmur; and the freedmen will 
rejoice that at last they have a prospect of a perma- 
nent home for themselves and their children. 

The freedmen of the Seminole and the Creek tribes 
believe that the national laws and customs of their 
tribes are sufficient for their protection, while the 


851 


freedmen of the other tribes all feel, and say they 
know, that there is no security or protection for 
them, either in person or property, without some 
power or government superior and above that of the 
Indian nations to which they belong. These views of 
the freedmen are, in my judgment, correct, and the 
territory should either be organized into a military 
district, with martial law in full force, and fully enforced, 
with a good executive commander who would supervise 
everything, or a territorial government should be organ- 
ized to execute the laws. 

All the Indian tribes are unanimously opposed to the 
erection of a territorial government: but such a gov- 
ernment, or a military government, is imperatively 
required by the situation. It cannot be expected that 
any government would leave ten or twelve thousand 
of its citizens as the freedmen of the Indian territory 
now are, while within its own borders, without any 
government, or without the full protection and benefits 
of its own laws and institutions. To hand them over 
to the laws and customs of the Indian tribes would be 
extraordinary and anomalous. 

All lands set apart for the freedmen should, when- 
ever practicable, be located east of the ninety-seventh 
degree of longitude, as the drought is usually so 
severe west of that as to render the maturity of crops 
very uncertain. With lands set apart for the freed- 
men of the Indian nation, and the freedmen located 


‘upon them, and a government, military or civil, or- 


ganized and executed for their protection, they will, 
beyond doubt, soon become an industrious, intelligent, 
and happy population. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your 
obedient servant, JOHN H. SANBORN, 

Brevet Major General and Commissioner. 

Hon. James Harlan, 

Secretary of the Interior. 


General Sanborn’s second letter dealt with further 
recommendations for the welfare of the freedmen. The 
third letter indicated that he had changed his mind 
about their condition and their treatment, during the 
three months of his visit to the Indian Territory. The 
third letter is as follows: 


Fort Smith, Arkansas, April 13, 1866. 

Colonel: I have the honor to report that the exist- 
ing relations between the freedmen of the Indian 
Territory and their former masters are generally sat- 
isfactory. The rights of the freedmen are acknowl- 
edged by all; fair compensation for labor is paid; a 
fair proportion of crops to be raised on the old plan- 
tations is allowed; labor for freedmen to perform is 
abundant, and nearly all are self-supporting. 

Only one hundred and fifty have applied for assist- 
ance this month, and I think the number will be much 
reduced next month. 

Much of the assistance rendered is to freedmen that 
have been taken south by their masters, and who are 
now returning to their old homes. 

Under these circumstances there seems to be little 
reason for continuing this commission beyond the 
tenth of next month, unless it should be to correct the 
few abuses that may arise, and exercise a general 
supervision over these matters in the territory, and 
this will probably be more necessary about the time 
of the maturity of the crops than during the summer 
months while they are growing. 

The necessity or advantage of continuing the com- 
mission also depends very much upon the conditions 
of the treaties about to be concluded at Washington, 
and the laws passed in pursuance thereof. But it 
seems that the Indian agents, under proper instruc- 
tions, could well attend to and perform all those du- 
ties that now, or in any event after the tenth of next 
month will, pertain to this commission. 

I therefore respectfully request that you will either 
grant me a leave of absence of forty days, to take 
effect from the tenth of next month, or that you will 
allow me to proceed to Washington at that time and 
close my accounts, and there wait further orders. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obe- 
dient servant. JOHN B. SANBORN, 

Brevet Major General and Commissioner. 
Colonel D. N. Cooley, 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C. 

—Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Af- 
fairs for 1866, pp. 283-87. 


852 


APPENDIX XXX—2. 
PERSONNEL OF THE PEACE COMMISSION 


“General Bussey had said in his despatch to the 
Grand Council that one reason why it would be im- 
possible for the United States commissioners to jour- 
ney to Armstrong Academy was because they had 
invited various persons having business with them to 
meet them at Fort Smith, a clear intimation that the 
consummation of peace with the southern tribes was 
not the only occasion for their trip westward. Sub- 
sequent events were to prove that that was only too 
truly the case. Had the recipients of Bussey’s com- 
munication studied his words carefully, they would 
surely have had a foreboding. The words in them- 
selves were ominous; but who were the people who 
were to have business dealings with an ostensibly 
Indian peace commission, business of such importance 
that it received more consideration beforehand than 
did the people whose fortunes hung in the balance? 
Were they land speculators or would-be railroad mag- 
nates? Were they politicians from Kansas, eager to 
relieve, by hook or by crook, their sunny state of an 
obnoxious aboriginal encumbrance? Who were they? 
Assurance may be doubly sure that whoever they were 
they were not disinterested friends of the red men. 

“It had been thought well to have the Peace Com- 
mission consist of several persons. In numbers there 
is a certain kind of strength imparted and not neces- 
sarily a contrariety of disposition. Were it to become 
incumbent upon the commission to bring any undue 
pressure to bear upon the Indians, who were not only 
brave fighters, but also educated and Keenly intel- 
lectual men, as all their public documents attest, it 
might not be amiss to have a variety of skill, sub- 
tlety, and some sternness to pit against excessive 
obstinacy. Was it for that reason that the men 
selected were all, with a single exception and that an 
afterthought, taken from the official and military 
classes?” 

—Annie Heloise Abel in “The American Indian 
Under Reconstruction,” pp. 173-74. 


APPENDIX XXX—3. 
FORT SMITH PROTOCOL 


Articles of agreement entered into this thirteenth 
day of September, 1865, between the commissioners 
designated by the President of the United States and 
the persons here present representing or connected 
with the following named nations and tribes of Indians 
located within the Indian country, viz: Cherokees, 
Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Osages, Seminoles, Se- 
necas, Senecas and Shawnees, and Quapaws. 

Whereas, the aforesaid nations and tribes, or bands 
of Indians, or portions thereof, were induced by the 
machinations of the emissaries of the so-called Con- 
federate States to throw off their allegiance to the 
government of the United States, and to enter into 
treaty stipulations with said so-called Confederate 
States, whereby they have made themselves liable to a 
forfeiture of all rights of every kind, character, and 
description which had been promised and guaranteed 
to them by the United States; and whereas the govern- 
ment of the United States has maintained its suprem- 
acy and authority within its limits; and whereas 
it is the desire of the government to act with mag- 
nanimity with all parties deserving its clemency, and 
to reéstablish order and legitimate authority among 
the Indian tribes; and whereas the undersigned repre- 
sentatives or parties connected with said nations or 
tribes of Indians have become satisfied that it is for 
the general good of the people to reunite with and be 
restored to the relations which formerly existed be- 
tween them and the United States, and as indicative 
of our personal feelings in the premises, and of our 
several nations and tribes, so far as we are author- 
ized and empowered to speak for them; and whereas 
questions have arisen as to the status of the nations, 
tribes, and bands that have made treaties with the 
enemies of the United States, which are now being 
discussed and our relations settled by treaty with the 
United States commissioners now at Fort Smith for 
that purpose: 

The undersigned do hereby acknowledge themselves 
to be under the protection of the United States of 


i 3 


APPENDIX 


America, and covenant and agree, that hereafter they 
will in all things recognize the government of the 
United States as exercising exclusive jurisdiction over 
them, and will not enter into any allegiance or con- 
ventional arrangement with any state, nation, power, 
or sovereign whatsoever; that any treaty of alliance 
for cession of land, or any act heretofore done by 
them, or any of their people, by which they renounce 
their allegiance to the United States, is hereby re- 
voked, cancelled, and repudiated. 

In consideration of the foregoing stipulations, made 
by the members of the respective nations and tribes of 
Indians present, the United States, through its com- 
missioners, promises that it will reéstablish peace 
and friendship with all nations and tribes of Indians 
within the limits of the so-called Indian country; 
that it will afford ample protection for the security 
of the persons and property of the respective nations 
or tribes, and declares its willingness to enter into 
treaties to arrange and settle all questions relating 
to and growing out of former treaties with said na- 
tions, as affected by any treaty made by said nations 
with the so-called Confederate States, at this council 
now convened for that purpose, or at such time in the 
future as may be appointed. 

In testimony whereof, the said commissioners on 
the part of the United States, and the said Indians of 
the several nations and tribes, as respectively here- 
after enumerated, have hereunto subscribed their 
names, and affixed their seals, on the day and year 
first above written. 

—Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Af- 
fairs for 1865, pp. 330-31. 


APPENDIX XxXxX—4. 
GOVERNOR R. J. WALKER’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 


Extract from the inaugural address of Robert J. 
Walker, territorial governor of Kansas, and quoted by 
John Ross to the Cherokee National Council, in 1857. 

“Upon the south Kansas is bounded by the great 
southwestern Indian territory. This is one of the most 
salubrious and fertile portions of this continent. It is 
a great cotton growing region, admirably adapted, by 
soil and climate, for the products of the south: em- 
bracing the valleys of the Arkansas and Red rivers; 
adjoining Texas on the south and west, and Arkansas 
on the east; and it ought speedily to become a State 
of the American Union. The Indian treaties will con- 
stitute no obstacle, any more than precisely similar 
treaties did in Kansas; for their lands, valueless to 
them, now for sale, but which, sold with their con- 
sent and for their benefit, like the Indian lands of 
Kansas, would make them a most wealthy and pros- 
perous people, and their consent on these terms would 
be most cheerfully given. This Territory contains 
double the area of the State of Indiana, and, if neces- 
sary, an adequate portion of the western and more ele- 
vated part could be set apart exclusively for these 
tribes, and the eastern and larger portion be formed 
into a State, and its land sold for the benefit of these 
tribes, (like the Indian lands in Kansas,) thus greatly 
promoting all their interests. To the eastern boundary 
of the region, on the State of Arkansas, run the rail- 


roads of that State; to the southern limits come the ~ 


great railroads from Louisiana and Texas, from New 
Orleans and Galveston, which will ultimately be joined 
by railroads from Kansas, leading through Texas to 
San Francisco. It is essential to the true interests, 
not only of Kansas, but of Louisiana, Texas, and Ar- 
kansas, Iowa and Missouri, and the whole region west 
of the Mississippi, that this coterminous southwestern 
Indian territory should speedily become a State, not 
only to supply us with cotton and receive our prod- 
ucts in return, but as occupying the area over which 
that portion of our railroads should run which con- 
nect us with New Orleans and Galveston; and by the 
southern route with the Pacific from her central posi- 
tion, through or connected with Kansas, must run the 
central, northern, and southern routes to the Pacific, 
and with the latter, as well as with the Gulf, the con- 
nexion can only be secured by the southwestern terri- 
tory becoming a State, and to this Kansas should 
direct her earnest attention as essential to her 
prosperity.” 

—Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Af- 
fairs, for 1857, pp. 221-22. 


— 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XXX—5. 
“LOYAL” CHOCTAWS AND CHICKASAWS 
The “loyal” Chickasaw delegation was composed of 
the following: Et Tor Lutkee, Louis Jonson [or Lewis 


Johnson], Esh Ma Tubba, A. G. Griffith, Maharda Col- 
bert, headmen; Frazier McCrean, Benjamin Colbert, 


Ed. Colbert, Jackson, Jim Doctor, Simpson Kill- 
crease, A. B. Johnson, Corman, George Jonson, 
——- Wilburn. 


The “loyal’ Choctaws were represented by William 
ao Robert B. Patton, A. J. Stanton, Jeremiah 

ard. 

The “official record” of the peace council gives the 
following as part of the record on the afternoon of 
the first day: 

“Robert B. Patton on behalf of the loyal Choctaws, 
said: ‘I wish to state that I am not here as a delegate 
at all, but have been chosen by the agent [Isaac Cole- 
man] to represent the loyal Choctaws. They are very 
few, most of the tribe having joined the rebels. I am 
here simply to ask of the commissioners our rights. 
We desire to get possession of the lands allowed us by 
the treaty of 1855.’ 

“President: ‘How many loyal are there?’ 

“Patton: ‘I suppose about 212. The agent says about 
1,800 since surrender.’ 

“President: ‘The 212 were always loyal?’ 

“Patton: ‘Yes; never went south.’ 

“President: ‘Where are the 1,800? 

“Patton: ‘At their old homes; all full-bloods. 
half-bloods yet returned.’ ” 


“Hix-tor-lut-kee (John Lewis), 
Chickasaws, said: 

“‘T want to say a few words. My agent wrote up to 
me, living about four miles beyond Fort Gibson, to 
meet him here. When I started, I expected to meet our 
Father here with our southern brothers. After I got 
here, I heard a report that you came for something 
else. I expected to hear something between us and the 
south, and wanted to hear what sort of laws you 
would lay down for the south; but have heard nothing. 
We do not wish to say anything contrary, but are 
waiting for the others to get through: and think we 
will be willing to do whatever the rest do. We are 
glad to see you all.’ 

“Alfred Griffith, also of the Chickasaws, said: 

“‘This evening we have come together. I am very 
glad, and thank my God that he has sent the men from 
Washington. We are the loyal people of the Chicka- 
saw nation, who took sides with the government. We 
are the ones that kept the laws that the government 
laid down, because we thought we would all be safe. 
We were all here at the time set, the 1st of September. 
We all understand what we have come here for, but 
still there is some misunderstanding. How is it? I 
hope we can understand yet.’”’ 

In submitting a statement in answer to the seven 
propositions presented to the council by the commis- 
sioners, the “loyal’’ Chickasaws said that they were 
unauthorized to enter into a treaty with the United 
States. However, on their part they were willing to 
accept the first, second and third propositions. They 
felt unauthorized to act on the fourth, fifth and sixth 
propositions. On the seventh proposition they sug- 
gested “that no person except our former slaves, or 
free persons of color, now residents of the nation, will 
be permitted to reside in the nation or tribe, unless 
formally incorporated into the same, except officers, 
agents, and employes of the government, or of any 
internal improvement authorized by the government.” 

obert B. Patton submitted the written statement 
on behalf of the “loyal’’ Choctaw delegation. It stated 
that the delegation was not authorized to make or 
sign any treaty with the United States in behalf of the 
Choctaw Nation; that the first, second, third, fourth, 
fifth, and sixth propositions met their approval. They 
asked for a modification of the seventh article to read 
thus: ‘“‘No white person, except officers, agents, and 
employes of the government, or of any internal im- 
provement authorized by the government of the United 
States; also, no person of African descent except our 
former slaves, or free persons of color who are now, 
or have been, residents of the territory, will be per- 
mitted to reside in the territory, unless formally in- 
corporated with some tribe, according to the usages of 
SPELT. s Wie Peels 


No 


on behalf of the 


853 


On the sixth day of the council (after the protocol 
had been submitted by the commissioners), the “offi- 
cial record’ is in part as follows: 

“Lewis Johnson, on behalf of the loyal Chickasaws, 
said: ‘I have always been one of those who have been 
loyal and cleaved unto our Great Father, and when I 
found that the old chiefs and folks had broken the 
treaty I turned my back on them and went north. 
Then there was great trouble and guns firing behind 
my back, but they did not kill me, and I went under 
the protection of my Great Father in Kansas, and then 
I knew I was safe. I came here to settle this business 
before I return home, and as I stand before you, it 
seems as though a weight was falling from my shoul- 
ders, and that I am coming into the light. I always 
intended to abide by the law, for I always wished 
to be on my Great Father’s side. I have heard 
much said about the black folks. They suffered as 
much as we did. I have always understood that the 
President esteemed the colored people, and we are 
willing to do just as our Father may wish, and take 
them in and assist them, and let them help us. So I 
think and feel towards them. 

““T agree with all the wishes of my Great Father, 
and I expect he will henceforth protect me. I am tell- 
ing you this from the centre of my heart, and every- 
thing I say is heartfelt.’ 

“The delegation of loyal Chickasaws then signed the 


From source of material available in the “offi- 
cial record,” evidently the “loyal’’ Choctaw delegation 
made no comment whatever upon the terms of the 
treaty.—Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
for 1865, pp. 313, 316, 317, 320-21, and 334, respectively. 

Miss Abel in “The American Indian Under Recon- 
struction,” pp. 211-12, makes the following comment 
with regard to the southern Choctaws and Chicka- 
saws: 

“Additional signatures to the Articles of Agree- 
ment [i. e., protocol] were secured. Southern Creeks, 
southern Osages, southern Comanches, and southern 
Cherokees were now in the group with the unionists 
and the southern Seminoles. The secessionist Choc- 
taws and Chickasaws alone remained outside and on 
this ninth day of the council they, too, were heard 
from. No weak suppliants were these Indians. Of the 
allies of the late Confederacy, they were among the 
most proud-spirited and, unlike the New Hope conven- 
tionists, they shouldered the whole blame for their own 
defection. They spurned the thought of having been 
overpersuaded by Cooper or by Pike. Not by the 
machinations of hired emissaries but by their own 
free-will had they revolted. They had honestly be- 
lieved in the doctrine of secession and had supposed 
‘the right of self-government’ to be ‘the great cardi- 
nal principle of republican liberty.’ Upon the more 
delicate phases of the negro question, they ventured 
at this time no opinion. Had they done so, it can be 
imagined what they would have said. They would 
have told the North, not to ease its own conscience 
by forcing the Indian to bear the whole expense of 
compensation to the negro. The Choctaw would never 
submit to being made chargeable for indemnity to the 
white man’s slave. He would do rightly by his own 
but he would not be dictated to. Nor would he allow 
his tribe to be put into the position of a suppressed 
nationality, without protest. Manifest injustice he 
had had to submit to many times before. He had 
yielded to a force stronger than himself; but he had 
never allowed his oppressor to delude himself into 
thinking that the Indian was oblivious of the wrong 
done. His indignation had echoed and re-echoed until 
the all too self-righteous white man had been put to 
tte by the ruthless exposure of his own hypocri- 
sies.”’ 


HECYOAtY.: «elle 


APPENDIX XXX—6. 
FAULTY GOVERNMENT INDIAN POLICY 


In quoting the following extract from ‘The Indian 
Policy of the Army, 1860-70,” by Raymond L. Welty, 
Ph. D., professor of history, Morningside College, 
taken from the “Cavalry Journal,” Vol. 36, pp. 367-81, 
it is well to bear in mind that the article deals pri- 
marily with the treatment of the Indians of the Plains, 
—the so-called “wild Indians,” the great majority of 
bs were removed to Western Oklahoma after 1866. 

. . The Indian tribes during this period, 1860 to 
1870, were treated as independent nations. The rela- 


854 


tions between the Indians and the United States were 
established by formal treaties ratified by the Indians 
and the United States Senate. The treaty usually pro- 
vided for a reservation, or assigned some boundary 
between the Indian lands and those to be considered 
as belonging to the United States. In fact, the princi- 
pal reason for making these treaties was the cancel- 
ling of the Indians’ title to their ceded lands. Under 
this policy the Indians had by treaty been pushed back 
westward across the United States. 

“The evils of the treaty system were more easily 
seen when, by 1860, a barrier of Indians had been 
banked up against the western expansion of the settle- 
ments. Before 1860 there had always existed good 
land to the west upon which the Indians when moved 
eould be placed, but by 1860 the supply of good land 
had been almost exhausted. If the Indian was moved 
he was placed upon land so poor, or in regions so 
lacking in rainfall, that his existence became a doubt- 
ful struggle. But the desire for land by the frontier 
again forced the tribes farther back. The annuity 
goods, which were bribes to obtain the consent of the 
Indians to these cessions of land, became larger and 
larger as the pressure became greater and the supply 
of land decreased. These annuities of goods, provi- 
sions, and munitions were disbursed by special offi- 
cers who were known as Indian Agents. These agents 
were expected to be the guardians of the savages—to 
protect and aid in their civilization. 

“The annuities furnished the ‘treaty’ Indians led to 
their ruin. These annuities attracted to the reserva- 
tions Indian traders, gamblers, whisky sellers, and un- 
principled persons who infested the frontier. These 
parasites soon possessed the Indians’ annuities. The 
Indian thus surrounded by the worst possible associ- 
ates, imitated the ways of civilization that he saw, 
and so became a drunkard and a vagabond—plundered 
and wronged on all sides. As soon as the expansion of 
settlements made his lands valuable he again was at 
the mercy of land speculators, Indian traders, con- 
tractors, settlers, and politicians—all of whom brought 
pressure upon the government to make another treaty 
to secure his lands and to provide for more annuities 
to be stolen from him. So this vicious cycle continued 
until the Indian either went to his destruction peace- 
fully in some out of the way place, or, goaded by his 
wrongs and maddened by drink, committed outrages 
that horrified civilization. But forceful resistance only 
hastened his downfall, for civilization was quick to 
revenge opposition to its ‘system’ by the sword, or if 
that failed, by bribery with its usual results. 

“In commenting on this system General John Pope, 
who saw active service on the frontier, declared: 
‘Both in an economic and humane view, the present 
Indian policy has been a woeful failure. Instead of 
preventing, it has been, beyond doubt, the source of 
all the Indian wars which have occurred in late years. 
So long as our present policy prevails, the money and 
the goods furnished to the Indians will be a constant 
and sufficient temptation to unscrupulous white men, 
and so long may we expect outrages and Indian out- 
breaks on the frontier.’ ... 

“The Indian policy advocated by the army at the 
outset presupposed that the Indians should not check 
the advance of civilization over the western country. 
‘I,, wrote General Pope, ‘have not undertaken to dis- 
cuss the question of the right of a few nomadic In- 
dians to claim possession of the vast district of coun- 
try which they roam over, to check the advance of 
civilization, or to retain in wilderness and unproduc- 
tiveness, for the scanty subsistence of a few thousand 
savages, regions which would support many millions 
of civilized men. However, such questions may be 
decided by abstract reasoning, all history shows that 
the result will certainly be in some way the dispos- 
session of the savage and the occupation of his lands 
by civilized man. The only practical question, there- 
fore, for the government to consider, is the means by 
which this result may be attained with the greatest 
humanity, the least injustice, and the largest benefit to 
the Indian, morally and physically.’ 

“This was a forecast of the history of the Indians. 
It is useless to blame Columbus for discovering 
America—both followed the laws of their nature and 
being. Therefore, the policy which the army wished 
to adopt was not one of keeping or holding the Indians 
in a temporary state of peace, but one to replace the 
nomadic Indians by a white civilization with the least 


APPENDIX 


injustice and the greatest benefits possible to the 
indians. 10s 

“The military authorities proposed to keep peace 
on the basis of fear. Their treaties were to be simply 
explicit understandings with the Indians that, so long 
as they kept the peace the United States would keep 
it, but as soon as they committed hostilities the army 
would march into their country, establish military 
posts, and make war against them. This meant no 
expenditure of money, no annuities, and no presents 
to the Indians, and what is better, no unprincipled 
traders, gamblers and contractors hanging around 
Indian camps, for the Indian would have no money to 
spend in debauchery. General Pope declared: ‘Indians 
will keep the peace when they fear the consequences 
of breaking it, and not because they are paid (and 
badly paid too) for keeping it, and when they can, by 
the present system of treaty-making, really make 
more by committing hostilities than by keeping the 
peace.’ 

“The Indian treaties of this period pretended to 
guarantee to the Indians definite reservations. Pro- 
visions were always inserted in them that the Indian 
reservations and hunting grounds, except along cer- 
tain definite routes, were not to be entered by any 
persons without the permission of the Indians. These 
provisions were never enforced. White persons crossed 
at will over the Indian’s lands, killed his game, seized 
his land, and even entered his reservation to sell him 
whiskey and to steal his annuities. In commenting 
on these facts, General Pope declared: ‘By what right 
are Montana and the larger part of Utah, Colorado and 
Nebraska occupied by whites? What right, under our 
treaties with Indians, have we to be roaming over 
the whole mining territories, as well as the plains to 
the east of them, molesting the Indian in every foot 
of his country, drawing off or destroying the game 
upon which he depends for subsistence, and dispos- 
sessing him of the abiding places his tribe has occu- 
pied for centuries? All these things we are permitting 
our people to do, mainly because we could not, if we 
would, prevent them. Yet these are violations of sol- 
emn treaties with the Indians, violations of justice and 
of right, which we solemnly pledged ourselves to pre- 
vent. How can we expect the Indian to observe a 
treaty which he sees us violate every day to his 
injury?’ 

“It was impossible for the army or the civil authori- 
ties to prevent the frontiersmen from infringing upon 
the rights of the Indians. ‘The white men on the fron- 
tier,’ wrote General Pope, ‘and close in contact with 
these reservations, unrestrained by laws and by any 
sound public sentiment, settle all disputes and avenge 
all offences, however trivial, in which Indians are 
concerned, with a pistol or rifle, themselves being both 
judges and executioners.’ This friction between the 
two races prevented their living together in peace. 
The frontiersman looked upon the Indian reservation 
as an obstacle in his path. With this conception and 
because of the bitter memories of Indian atrocities, 
the frontiersman too often held that the Indian had 
no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” 


APPENDIX XXXI—1. 


CONDITION OF THE SEMINOLES AT THE END 
OF THE WAR. 


Upon their arrival at Fort Smith in September, 
1865, the members of the Southern Seminole delega- 
tion signed the protocol offered by the government 
peace commissioners, in conjunction with the north- 
ern delegation of the tribe. However, on the same 
day, after due reflection upon the terms being pre- 
sented to them by the commission, the southern de- 
legation addressed a communication to the commis- 
sioners, stating that they had not fully understood 
the purport of the terms offered and rescinded their 
action in signing the protocol with reference to the 
third and sixth articles of the seven original propo- 
sitions. They wished to leave these two questions 
open to future consideration. They also submitted 
another statement, signed by John Jumper, as the 
principal chief of the Seminoles, which read in part 
as follows: 

“We have been exiles from our own lands and homes 
for more than two long years. Amid the ravages 
of war we were able to save very little of our prop- 


APPENDIX 


erty, very few cattle, horses, hogs, and agricultural 
implements, whatever. We were, before the outbreak 
of this white man’s war into which he threw us, a 
poor people, just struggling to emerge from the dark- 
ness and poverty of barbarism; but what few farms 
we had opened, what few flocks of sheep, herds of 
cattle and droves of horses, we then possessed, are 
now destroyed. We are now poorer than ever—a 
feeble, suppliant tribe; yet not forgetful of the man- 
hood of our forefathers, who displayed it in the ever- 
glades of Florida—nor of our own, which was will- 
ing to breast the storm of war in the dismal dark 
years of 1861-65. The Confederate States, poor and 
crippled as they were, fed our people—such as were 
unable to feed themselves—for two years. Since the 
cessation of hostilities, the contractor for the Con- 
federate States has generally supplied us. Had he 
not done so, our women and children would have 
suffered. We had no fields in the lowlands of the 
Washita River, where we are now and have been 
since February, 1864, to till; and if we had had such 
fields, we possessed no implements or animals with 
which to cultivate ground. Of course we could grow 
no food, and unless the contractor of the Confederate 
States had stepped up to our aid, many of us would 
have perished. 

‘Now, since signing the treaty of amity and peace 
with the United States, we are utterly thrown upon 
our own resources, shown to you, sir, to be drained, 
or upon the humanity of your own government, by 
whose invitation and demand we have come forward 
and smoked the pipe of peace. What are we to do? 
We ask you to put to yourself the question, and call 
yourself a poor Seminole, casting about for succor 
amid a wreck of ruin and poverty. The Confederate 
States no longer exist; to their humanity and sym- 
pathy we can no longer appeal. The contractor, who, 
of himself, generously furnished us since peace, can 
no longer do so. We have, ourselves, nothing in corn, 
eattle, hogs, or supplies of any kind, and we must 
suffer unless you, yourself, take steps for our relief. 
This relief must be speedy, too, or it will be of no 
avail. This relief we do not ask except till we are 
able to gain subsistence from the earth, which we 
cannot now do until another spring, summer, and 
autumn, and which we will do when those seasons 
come again. for we prefer to make our bread. 

“We are now [September 16, 1865] about to move 
our families from their present camps in the woods 
of Wachita to our own land. There we shall not find 
the homes we left, yet we desire to go immediately 
thither to make such preparations as we are able 
for the coming winter, and for the sowing and harvest 
thereafter. We are anxious and determined to re- 
establish and maintain peace with our Seminole breth- 
ren who lave differed with us in this war, and re- 
solved to keep good and steadfast faith with the 
United States Government. 

“But in our own country we shall find no food; 
we have none to take thither with us. We, there- 
fore, of necessity, appeal to your great government 
in our behalf in this matter.” (Report of Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1865, pp. 351-52.) 

In his repert dated October 2, 1865, United States 
Agent Reynolds, for the Seminoles, stated that the 
southern portion of the tribe numbered about one 
thousand and were located in the Chickasaw coun- 
try. He further remarked, “Their flocks and herds 
have been ariven off by the necessities of enemies 
of the country and the avarice of pretended friends, 
until their country is uninhabited, and their improve- 
ments completely destroyed and laid waste.” (Ibid., 
pp. 283-4.) 

About five hundred Northern Seminoles had returned 
as refugees from Kansas in 1863, to Fort Gibson, 
where other members of the tribe joined them toward 
the end of the war. These people remained in the 
vicinity of Fort Gibson until 1866. In his report con- 
cerning them, on September 25, 1866, Agent Reynolds 
stated, “Last year it was found impracticable to re- 
move them to their old homes in the Seminole coun- 
try from the fact that no supplies of any kind could 
be had in their country, and the long distance from 
Fort Gibson (160 miles) to transport supplies induced 
the department to abandon the settling them on their 
own reservation, and to adopt the other alternative 
of locating them, for the time being, near the supplies 


855 


purchased for them under contract and delivered at 
Fort Gibson. . hs OO lee 

“Both the northern and southern Seminoles, so long 
divided by the late war, evince a commendable de- 
sire to bury the past and come together again as 
friends and brothers. Some jealousy and bad feel- 
ing still exist, and many disputes arise relative to 
the rights of property; but it is hoped that all dis- 
turbing causes will soon pass away, and the tribe 
be, as in times past, harmonious, peaceful and happy.” 
(Ibid., Report for 1866, p. 321.) 

The estimated number of the Seminoles in 1865 
was given as two thousand. By the official census 
taken in 1866, the population of the Seminole Nation 
was found to be “male, 1,425; female, 1,525; total, 2,- 
950.” (Ibid., p. 322.) 


APPENDIX XXXI—2. 
THE GREER COUNTY CLAIM OF THE CHOCTAWS 


The country bounded by the Canadian and Red 
rivers, lying between the 98th and 100th meridians 
amounts to 6,800,000 acres. However, under condi- 
tions existing in 1866, the ‘‘Leased District,” so-called 
in the Choctaw-Chickasaw treaty, did not contain the 
whole of that region, though the boundaries of the 
Choctaw Nation, under its patent, were later found to 


. include this country. These circumstances were due 


to the fact that the main channel of Red River had 
been thought to be the stream now known as the 
North Fork of Red River, thus leaving all of the 
country in Southwestern Oklahoma, now included in 
Jackson, Harmon, Greer, and part of Beckham coun- 
ties, supposedly as a part of Texas. This region had 
always been included within the boundaries of Texas, 
being given the name of Greer County by the Texas 
Legislature, in 1860. It remained thus until 1896, 
when, by a decision of the United States Supreme 
Court, the main channel of the Red River was found 
to be south of the North Fork, the latter being only 
a branch of the Red River proper. With this change 
on the map, old Greer County, Texas, became a part 
of Oklahoma Territory, bringing the title of this coun- 
try under the original patent granted to the Choctaw 
Nation by the United States. Many Choctaws believe 
that a settlement for the country included in old 
Greer County, Texas, has never been made to them by 
the Government for four reasons; namely, (1) the re- 
gion between the North Fork and the main channel of 
Red River was not considered as included as a part 
of the “Leased District” under the Treaty of 1866, 
since at that time it was supposed to be included 
within the boundaries of Texas, and had been recently 
named as a county in that state; (2) this region, 
known as Greer County, Texas, was never included as 
a part of any Indian reservation, a specific provision 
with regard to the lands included in the “Leased Dis- 
trict,” under the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty of 1866, 
but, on the other hand, the country was sold to set- 
tlers as other public lands under the rules and regula- 
tions of the Government Land Office, after the Supreme 
Court decision, without any consideration being al- 
lowed the Choctaw people in whom the title to these 
lands rested; (3) the fact that the country within the 
boundaries of old Greer County, Texas, was for many 
years in litigation before the United States Supreme 
Court whose final decision caused it to be attached to 
Oklahoma Territory, within the limits of the Choctaw 
Nation, would indicate that the question of its title 
under Government patent had never been fully set- 
tled; (4) no further settlement of the Greer County 
claim of the Choctaws has ever been presented to 
Congress, except an attempt to include it as a part of 
the ‘Leased District” to which it clearly cannot be at- 
tached, since old Greer County and the “Leased Dis- 
trict” have each had an entirely separate and dis- 
tinct history, though both were a part of the Choctaw 
country from a description of its boundaries given in 
the patent to the Choctaw Nation from the United 
States Government. 


APPENDIX XXXI—3. 


THE FREEDMAN QUESTION AMONG THE CHOC- 
TAWS AND CHICKASAWS. 


The question of granting their freedmen the rights 
of suffrage and citizenship remained unsettled from 


856 APPENDIX 


year to year after the Civil War, since both the Choc- 
taw and the Chickasaw failed to adopt such measures 
that would meet the requirements of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, under the Treaty of 1866. Conditions in the 
Chickasaw Nation, especially, did not warrant the 
adoption of the freedmen; since the Chickasaws had 
been wealthy in slaves before the war, now their 
number was almost equalled by the number of freed- 
men in their midst. The granting of the rights of cit- 
izenship to such a proportionately large number of 
freedmen would have presented a real problem in the 
tribal elections under the constitution of the Chicka- 
saw Nation, so that the situation would have been 
similar to that in certain states of the South if the 
negroes were given full rights. In reality the people 
of both the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations desired 
to have the freedmen removed from their midst by 
the Federal Government, but it was the Chickasaw 
legislature that repeatedly voiced this opinion year 
after year by adopting resolutions to that effect ad- 
dressed to the Federal Government. By the terms of 
the Treaty of 1866, it required the concurrent action 
of both the General Council of the Choctaw Nation 
and the Legislature of the Chickasaw Nation to ren- 
der the adoption of the freedmen valid, since the two 
nations held their landed interests in common. 

Finally, in 1875, Hon. J. P. C. Shanks, special com- 
missioner appointed by the Secretary of the Interior 
to investigate and report of the status of the freed- 
men in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, rendered 
his report against the removal of the freedmen and 
recommended that Congress take steps to secure their 
recognition as full citizens of the said nations. Sub- 
sequently, commissioners from both the Choctaws and 
the Chickasaws conferred together on more than one 
occasion, but could never arrive at any solution of 
the matter. ; 

Congress at last forced the question, by passing an 
act on May 17, 1882, appropriating the sum of $10,000 
for the education of the freedmen in the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw nations, this amount to remain under the 
control of Federal authorities and to be deducted 
from the $300,000 that was due on the Leased District 
cession of 1866. However, it was provided that if 
either of the nations adopted and granted full rights 
to the freedmen by legislative action before the Con- 
gressional law went into effect, the money appropri- 
ated would be paid over to the said nation for the pur- 
poses designated, in the proportion allowed (i. e., 
one-fourth to the Chickasaw Nation and three-fourths 
to the Choctaw Nation) under the Treaty of 1866, the 
amount to be taken out of the unpaid balance of the 
$300,000 due the said Nation. 

The Choctaws considered that this Congressional 
act established a bad precedent, since it allowed the 
diversion of funds rightfully due the Nation, inasmuch 
as the United States had not removed the freedmen 
under the provisions of the Treaty of 1866. These 
diverted funds would be under the direction of the 
Federal Government for the benefit of the freedmen, 
who were in reality United States citizens, and who re- 
mained in the Choctaw Nation virtually against the 
will of its people; thus the Choctaw authorities and 
the Choctaw citizens would be placed in an anomalous 
position, with no control over the situation. Since the 
freedmen were in a minority in the Choctaw Nation, 
with no possibility of any one of these people ever 
attaining a position of authority, the General Council 
made provisions for the granting of citizenship to the 
ex-sSlaves of the Choctaws. 

The measure, known as the Freedmen Bill, was 
passed by the Choctaw General Council and approved 
on May 21, 1883, by J. F. McCurtain, as principal chief, 
and Thompson McKinney, as national secretary. Un- 
der its provision, the freedmen (i. e., persons of Afri- 
can descent, formerly held as slaves, resident in the 
Choctaw Nation on September 18, 1865), and their 
descendants were entitled to all rights and privileges 
with the citizens of the Choctaw Nation, excepting in 
the annuities, moneys, and public domain of the said 
Nation. The freedmen were to be granted forty acres 
of land as an allotment: they were to be given edu- 
cational advantages; and they were entitled to hold 
office with the exception of that of principal chief or 
of district chief. A second measure was also passed 
at the same time by the General Council, providing 
for the appointment of a commission of three Choc- 


taws by the Principal Chief, to make a roll of those 
freedmen who were entitled to the benefits of this 
legislation. Also, it was held that intermarriage with 
a freedman did not confer rights of citizenship in the 
Nation. These acts on the part of the Choctaw Na- 
tion were held by the Department of the Interior to 
be a substantial compliance with the requirements of 
the Treaty of 1866, and as a result the balance of the 
$300,000 due the Choctaws was placed to their credit 
on the books of the United States Treasury. By en- 
acting the Freedmen Bill, the Choctaws remained in 
a position of authority over the freedmen within the 
limits of the Nation; they stopped the establishment 
of the precedent of the diversion of tribal funds for 
the use of the freedmen who would have been citizens 
of the United States within the boundaries of the 
Choctaw Nation; and they received the benefits of 
their pro rata share of the Leased District money. It 
may be further stated that no freedman ever attained 
a position of authority by election in the Choctaw 
Nation; in some instances they were appointed to 
serve as special deputy sheriffs under the light 
horsemen, and it is said, were in a very few cases 
members of the jury in court. Separate schools were 
also maintained for the freedmen, which were under 
the supervision of negro superintendents and teachers. 

The Chickasaw Nation never adopted its freedmen 
as citizens; however, for a number of years the 
Chickasaw authorities allowed the freedmen to obtain 
permits as tenants on the tribal lands. As no record 
of the freedmen entitled to privileges in the Chicka- 
saw Nation under the treaty at Fort Smith was pre- 
served, fraudulent claims to these privileges became 
the rule among hundreds of negroes from other 
States. In the late ’eighties, many of these fraudulent 
claimants living in the Wild Horse, Caddo, and other 
sections of the Chickasaw Nation became landlords of 
good sized farms in some instances, and lived on the 
results of the labor of both white and other negro 
tenants. Some of these negroes were also owners of 
large herds of cattle and horses that ranged on the 
Chickasaw lands. These negro landlords, as United 
States citizens, on a few occasions, went so far as to 
band together in order to evade the laws of the Chick- 
asaw Nation. To alleviate these conditions, Senator 
Sam Paul, of the Chickasaw Legislature, suggested 
that the freedmen memorialize Congress for special 
allotments in the Leased District. However, some 
years later, this plan was objected to by other prom- 
inent Chickasaw and Choctaw citizens, so that it was 
never carried out. 

Under the terms of the Supplemental Agreement 
between the United States and the Choctaws and the 
Chickasaws, made on March 21, 1902, the Commission 
of the Five Civilized Tribes (Dawes Commission) en- 
rolled the Chickasaw freedmen and allotted them 
forty acres from the Choctaw and Chickasaw lands, 
according to the Atoka Agreement; it was provided, 
however, that the controversy over the status and the 
rights of the freedmen should be submitted to the 
United States Court of Claims for determination. 
Some time after allotment, the Court of Claims ren- 
dered its decision in favor of the Chickasaw Nation. 
Thereupon, the Chickasaws brought suit against the 
United States and secured payment for the lands that 
had been granted the freedmen, the Choctaws receiv- 
ing their pro rata share, or three-fourths of the sum 
allowed. Recently (1929) the Choctaw Nation through 
its attorneys on claims before the Federal Government, 
also instituted a suit to secure payment for the lands 
allotted the Choctaw freedmen out of the national 
domain; should the Choctaws win this suit, the 
Chickasaws would receive their pro rata share of the 
sum allowed by the Court of Claims. 


APPENDIX XXXI—4. 


THE NEUTRAL LANDS AND THE CHEROKEE 
STRIP. 


In 1825 when the Osages gave up the last of their 
land holdings within the present boundaries of Okla- 
homa, by treaty with the Government, they were as- 
signed a reservation in what is now the State of 
Kansas. This reservation was fifty miles wide and 
extended approximately as far west as the 100th 
meridian, the eastern line of the reservation being 
parallel to and twenty-five miles distant from the 
western boundary of Missouri. The rectangular tract 


“ 


a 


APPENDIX 857 


This was particularly true of the Quahada Comanches 
of country lying between the eastern boundary of the 
Osage reservation and the western boundary of the 
State of Missouri was left unassigned to any Indian 
tribe and became known as the “Neutral Lands.” In 
1835, by the terms of the Treaty of New Echota, the 
Neutral Lands were sold to the Cherokees for a con- 
sideration of $500,000, the northern line of the Chero- 
kee Outlet coinciding with the southern boundary 
of the Osage reservation which lay to the north. 
In the years immediately preceding the Civil War, all 
the Cherokees were in favor of selling the Neutral 
Lands, in order that the Nation might lift its national 
debt which had become burdensome; but it was not 
until the Cherokee Treaty of 1866 that any disposi- 
tion was made of these tribal holdings. 

When Kansas was admitted as a State in 1861, its 
southern boundary was coincident with the thirty- 
seventh degree North Latitude, leaving a strip of 
Cherokee country, two miles wide, lying between the 
southern boundary of Kansas and the Osage reserva- 
tion, extending west to the 100th meridian. This was 
properly known as the “Cherokee Strip.” Some years 
after the War, when the Cherokees leased the Chero- 
kee Outlet lands to the cattlemen for grazing pur- 
poses, it was popularly but erroneously called the 
“Cherokee Strip.” On March 6, 1883, the cattlemen 
organized the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, 
with its main offices at Caldwell, Kansas. 
that time, the Cherokee Outlet was generally known 
and called the “Cherokee Strip” throughout the West. 

The Oklahoma Historical Society has in its posses- 
sion a fac simile copy of a map of the “Cherokee 
Strip, Indian Territory.” It was made in 1883 for the 
Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association by S. T. Wood, 
Fred Eckert, T. W. Walton, and C. H. Burgess, on a 
scale of four miles to one inch. It was compiled 
from surveys of the ranges also made for the Asso- 
ciation, and shows the topography of the country, in- 
cluding stream valleys, trails, ranch headquarters, 
metes and bounds of each ranch lease, names of les- 
sees, and stock brands, 


APPENDIX XXXI—5. 
ALLEN WRIGHT. 


Allen Wright was born of Choctaw parentage, in 
Mississippi, November, 1826. According to tribal cus- 
tom he belonged to his mother’s clan, or iksa, called 
Hayi-pa-tukla. In 1833 his family migrated to the 
Indian Territory, his mother having died just before 
undertaking the journey over the “Trail of Tears,” 
as the Choctaws called the road over which they had 
traveled away to the West from their ancestral homes, 
His father settled near Lukfata, in present McCur- 
tain County, Oklahoma, where he died soon afterward. 
It was while attending the neighborhood school and 
the Sabbath school at Hagletown, that the lad who had 
been called Kilihote, in Choctaw, was given the name 
of Allen Wright, the surname being that of the mis- 
sionary to the Choctaws, Rev. Alfred Wright. 

In 1840, just after the death of his father, Allen 
Wright entered Pine Ridge Mission, Choctaw Nation, 
under the special care and supervision of Rev. Cyrus 
Kingsbury, who was senior Presbyterian Missionary 
to the Choctaws. He attended Spencer Academy, 
Choctaw Nation, from 1844 to 1848, when he was 
chosen, on account of his proficiency in his studies 
and his marked ability, to enter Delaware College, 
Newark, Delaware. At the discontinuance of Dela- 
ware College, two years later, he then entered Union 
College, Schenectady, New York, whence he graduated 
in 1852 with an excellent record in the classical course. 
He immediately matriculated at Union Theological 
poner: New York City, whence he graduated in 


He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Fourth 
Presbytery of New York, in April, 1855, at which time 
he was also made an honorary member of the Amer- 
ican Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. 
The following year he was ordained as a full minister 
of the Gospel by the Presbytery of Indian, Synod of 
Arkansas, being given charge of Armstrong National 
Academy of the Choctaw Nation, with preaching ap= 
pointments as foreign missionary at five outlying sta- 
tions. In 1856 he entered public life, being elected a 
member of the General Council of the Choctaw Na- 
tion; subsequently,. he served as treasurer, principal 


From about™ 


chief, and superintendent of schools, though actively 
engaged as a mission worker all the while. 

In 1857 he was married to Miss Harriet Newell 
Mitchell, of Dayton, Ohio, who had come to the Choc- 
taw Nation as a missionary and teacher under the 
Presbyterian Church, In 1861, as one of the commis- 
sioners on the part of the Choctaw Nation, he signed 
the treaty which was negotiated between his people 
and the Confederate States. He served in the Confed- 
erate Army as a chaplain during the Civil War, and 
at its conclusion, was selected as one of the Choctaw 
commissioners to negotiate a new treaty with the 
Federal Government. While he was absent in Wash- 
ington on this mission, in 1866, he was chosen by his 
people to serve them as principal chief. Two years 
later he was reélected for another term. 

In 1876 he was elected by the General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church as one of the American del- 
egates to the World’s Presbyterian Assembly, in 
Scotland. His later years were largely devoted to 
literary pursuits aside from his active work in the 
mission field among his people. He translated many 
of the Choctaw and all the Chickasaw laws into the 
tribal vernacular for publication. He wrote and pub- 
lished a Choctaw-English lexicon or definer, and he 
was the author or translator of a number of hymns 
in the Choctaw language. His last work, completed 
just before his death, was the translation of the 
Psalms of David from the Hebrew direct into Choc- 
taw, without the medium of the Greek or English 
versions. He died at Boggy Depot, December 2, 1885. 


APPENDIX XXXI—6. 
THE NAMING OF OKLAHOMA. 


As recounted by Doctor Murrow, Governor Allen 
Wright stated that the members of several of the 
tribal delegates were called into conference on one 
occasion, for the purpose of discussing a tentative 
draft of the provisions which it was expected the 
Government would insist upon being included in the 
new treaties to be entered into by each of the Five 
Civilized Tribes. As the reading of this draft pro- 
ceeded, the clause providing for a territory organiza- 
tion was reached when the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs (Mr. Cooley) interrupted to enquire: 

“What would you call your territory?” 

Instantly and wholly impromptu, Delegate Wright 
responded: ‘Oklahoma!’ 

It was noticeable that the members of the delega- 
tion from another tribe glanced in. Mr. Wright’s di- 
rection in evident displeasure at such promptness in 
replying to the question. Nothing further was said 
concerning the matter at the time; neither then nor 
afterward did any of the delegates see fit to try to 
suggest a better name. Later, the name appeared in 
the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty in the proviso to the 
effect that ‘‘the Superintendent of Indian Affairs shall 
be the executive of the said territory with the title of 
‘Governor of the Territory of Oklahoma.’” 

Governor Wright’s narrative of this incident was 
told with much amusement, because of the manifest 
unwillingness with which the name, Oklahoma,— 
taken from the Choctaw words “Okla Homma, or 
Humma” (Red People),—had been received by the 
delegates of another tribe. Since the bills providing 
for the organization of a Territory of Oklahoma had 
never passed either house of Congress, and, moreover, 
since the Oklahoma movement was far from being 
popular or promising to be successful at the time that 
Governor Wright related the story, his connection 
with having suggested the name did not have much 
significance for him aside from its humorous aspect, 
for the possibility of the ultimate adoption of the 
word as the name of a great State was then very 
remotely, if at all, probable. 


APPENDIX XXXII—A. 
THE MEDICINE LODGE PEACE COUNCIL. 


Most of the Indians of the Plains tribes who were 
represented in the council at which the treaties of 1865 
were signed (near the mouth of the Little Arkansas 
River in Kansas), kept their part of the agreements 
then entered into in good faith. Some of the bands of 
Cheyennes and Comanches were not represented in the 
council and these did not make any pretense of being 
bound by an agreement to which they were not parties. 


858 


and the Dog Soldier Cheyennes. There was a disposi- 
tion on the part of the military authorities to hold 
the entire tribe responsible for the misdeeds of one 
such band, notwithstanding the fact that, as political 
entities, reputed tribal organizations were very loosely 
bound together, if at allk The Government had not 
fulfilled its treaty agreements and the Indians were 
inclined to feel that they were therefore not bound by 
theirs. There were always some white men in whom 
even the most implacable Indians placed their confi- 
dence. One of these was Major Edward W. Wynkoop, 
of Colorado, who, in November, 1866, became the tribal 
agent of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. He succeeded 
in talking even the semi-hostile Dog Soldier Band of 
Cheyennes into a good humor. 

Early in the spring of 1867, General Winfield Scott 
Hancock, commander of the Department of the Mis- 
souri, personally took the field at the head of a strong 
force of troops at Fort Harker, Kansas, for the pur- 
pose of settling the “Indian question,’ which seemed 
to baffle so many other wise heads. The fact that, 
though he was a brave soldier and a successful gen- 
eral, he had not had any previous experience in dealing 
with Indians did not disturb his equanimity. With a 
well equipped expedition, including infantry, cavalry, 
artillery and a pontoon train, he set forth to overawe 
the Indians by the mere display of the superiority of 
his force. Marching his command from the valley of 
the Smoky Hill to that of the Arkansas, he arrived at 
Fort Larned, where he met Major Wynkoop, the tribal 
agent, who courteously offered to assist in arranging 
for a council or conference with the chiefs of the Dog 
Soldier Band. Agent Wynkoop sent a courier to the 
Indian camp, distant nearly thirty-five miles, asking 
that the chiefs come in for council. They came as 
promptly and as quickly as they could, considering 
the distance and the facts that the snow was deep and 
lack of proper food for their ponies, as was generally 
the case at the end of the winter. The distance was 
greater than the General had thought and they were 
later in arriving than he had expected. For this pre- 
sumptive lack of promptness they were upbraided. 
General Hancock then accused them of depredations 
for which they were not responsible. Such a course 
did not have a tendency to create confidence in the 
minds of the Indians. 

Finally, General Hancock announced his intention to 
march his command to the Indian village for the pur- 
pose of holding a council, as some of the chiefs had 
not come. The chiefs at once besought their agent, 
Major Wynkoop, to try to dissuade the General from 
putting such a purpose into effect, stating that, if he 
did march his command to their village, their women 
and children would be frightened (for the memory of 
the Chivington massacre, on Sand Creek a little more 
than two years before, was still fresh in their minds) 
and seek safety in flight. Major Wynkoop plead with 
the General not to put his threat into execution. But, 
though he knew Indians and Indian character (which 
General Hancock did not) and though he had been a 
brave soldier, Major Wynkoop had never seen more 
than one small brigade of troops assembled in one 
command, while the general had led thousands of men 
into some,of the greatest battles of the Civil War. 
Therefore, the opinions of the young Westerner were 
lightly considered and his earnest advice, based as it 
was on a thorough knowledge of the situation, was 
disregarded, and the march to the Indian village was 
begun. 

While the advancing column was still several miles 
distant from the Indian camp, Roman Nose, the North- 
ern Cheyenne leader, rode out to meet General Han- 
cock. Two more perfect types of the red and white 
races probably never faced each other than Roman 
Nose and Genera] Hancock. A brief interview ensued. 
It is said that Roman Nose had expressed to some of 
the other Indians a desire or intention to kill General 
Hancock, even though he knew his own life would be 
forfeited for so doing, but he was dissuaded from doing 
so by some of the other chiefs. The column finally 
reached a pcsition near the Indian village and went 
into camp. Then it was learned that the village had 
been abandoned—that the women and children had 
scattered in many directions, taking only such belong- 
ings as could be carried by hand. General Hancock 
summoned the chiefs before him and sternly demanded 
why the women and children had fled. Roman Nose 


October, 1867. 


Kiowa and Plains Apache. 


APPENDIX 


replied, telling the General of the Sand Creek affair, 
where the women and children of the Cheyennes had 
been wantonly killed by troops under Colonel Chiving- 
ton and naively asking him if white women and chil- 
dren would not have become panic-stricken under sim- 
ilar circumstances. To this the General bluntly re- 


sponded that he regarded the flight of the women and 


children of the village as an act of treachery, and that 
he wanted the principal men of the band to go in 
search of them and bring them back. They asked for 
the loan of horses, as their own were in no condition 
to undertake such a trip. Horses were furnished but 
the effort to find and bring back the people who had 
scattered was futile. General Hancock then announced 
his determination to burn the lodges and property 
contained in the abandoned Indian village. Against 
this course, Major Wynkoop filed a written protest, 
but it was of no more avail than the verbal protests 
which had been made before. Three hundred lodges, 
which with the contents, aggregated in value the sum 
of $100,000, were piled up and burned by General Han- 
cock’s orders. Thus, by the exercise of arbitrary 
authority and power on the part of an officer who 
turned a deaf ear to the advice of those who knew 
more about Indians than he did, another Indian war 
was started, involving most of the tribes of the South- 
ern Plains, entailing the loss of scores of lives of 
settlers, freighters, immigrants and soldiers, and cost- 
ing many millions of dollars. All through the sum- 
mer the Indian war went on and autumn found the 
red warriors of the Plains tribes still unwhipped. 
And yet, when General Hancock was transferred to 
another command a few months later, the governor of 
Kansas saw fit to extend to him the thanks of the 
people of that state. 

When the autumn season was at hand, the Indians 
were generally ready to attend a peace council. Solici- 


-tude for their hungry families and the desire for warm 


clothing for winter generally quickened an interest 
in the reéstablishment of peace. In the autumn of 
1867, it was different; the Indians were not disposed to 
sue for peace. It was therefore necessary to send to 
them men in whom they had confidence—such men as 


‘Chisholm and Black Beaver and Wynkoop—for the 


purpose of persuading them:to attend a peace council. 
Even then, they came in an ugly humor and in no 
mood for making peace. 

The peace council was held in the valley of Medicine 
Lodge River, in Southern Kansas, just a few miles 
from the Oklahoma border, during the latter part of 
It was a notable assemblage. Most of 
the leaders of the principal tribes of the Southern 
Plains were there—Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, 
The Government commis- 
sion was the largest and possibly the ablest that had 
ever been sent out on such a mission. There was a 
large military escort and an abundance of rations and 
supplies for the Indians. 

The Government peace commission was peculiar in 
that it was partly named by the act of Congress which 
provided for its creation and operation. This act, ap- 
proved July 20, 1867, provided that, in addition to 
three army officers not below the rank of brigadier- 
general, N. G. Taylor (commissioner of Indian Affairs), 
John B. Henderson (chairman of the Senate Commit- 
tee on Indian Affairs), S. F. Tappan and John B. San- 
born should be members of the peace commission. 
Rev. Nathaniel G. Taylor was from Tennessee and 
was a personal friend of President Andrew Jackson. 
He was the father of Robert L. Taylor and Alfred A. 
Taylor, who were prominent in the public affairs of 
Tennessee in the succeeding generation. John B. 
Henderson was United States Senator from Missouri. 
Col. Samuel F. Tappan had been an officer of a Colo- 
rado volunteer regiment during the war. John B. 
Sanborn had entered the vclunteer military service as 
colonel of a Minnesota regiment and had been pro- 
moted to the grades of brigadier and major-general. 
The military members of the commission were Lieu- 
tenant-General William T. Sherman and Brigadier- 
General William S. Harney. Subsequently, in order to 
insure a full attendance, Brigadier-General Christopher 
Cc. Augur was added to the membership of the commis- 
sion. The commissioners met at St. Louis, where they 
organized and chartered a steamboat by means of 
which they ascended the Missouri River and held 
councils with several of the Sioux tribes. Generals 


APPENDIX 


Sherman and Augur and Colonel Tappan were then 
sent to visit other tribes, while the rest of the mem- 
bers of the commission proceeded to Medicine Lodge. 
Generals Sanborn and Harney had been members of 
the commission which had met the Cheyennes, Coman- 
ches and other tribes of the Southern Plains in council 
at the mouth of the Little Arkansas River two years 
before. General Augur and Colonel Tappan joined the 
other members of the peace commission before its 
negotiations were completed at Medicine Lodge. 
Several representatives of the press accompanied the 
peace commissioners from Fort Larned to the Medicine 
Lodge council. Among the most noted of these corre- 
spondents were Henry M. Stanley, who represented 
the ‘“‘Missouri Democrat’? (now known as the “St. Louis 
Globe-Democrat’”’), and who subsequently attained 
world-wide fame as the explorer of Africa; Thomas W. 
Knox, who also achieved distinction as a traveler and 
author, and Milton W. Reynolds, who was destined to 
become intimately associated with the movement for 
the opening of Oklahoma to settlement. Reynolds was 
then editor of the ‘‘Kansas State Journal” and corre- 
spondent of the “Chicago Times.” Other newspapers 
represented by correspondents were “‘Harper’s Weekly,” 
“New York Herald,” ‘Chicago Tribune,” ‘Cincinnati 
Commercial,” “Cincinnati Gazette,’ “St. Louis Repub- 
lican,” and the “Leavenworth Bulletin.” ; 
Most of the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapahoe and Plains 


Apache Indians were represented in the council which ~ 


convened in a grove of elm trees on the morning of 
October 19th. Very few of the Cheyennes were present 
as they were engaged in the ceremonies incident to 
“making medicine,’ a day’s journey distant. Black 
Kettle, the head chief of the Cheyennes, was present 
but his people absolutely refused to come in until 
they were through with the ceremony of “renewing 
the medicine arrows.” This prolonged the council sev- 
eral days beyond the length of time that would have 
been otherwise required. Many speeches were made 
by the members of the peace commission, conciliatory 
and persuasive; those made by the various Indian 
chiefs differed according to the dispositions and whims 
of the respective speakers, some being friendly, others 
plaintive, and still others defiant. The tribal agents, 
Major E. W. Wynkoop and Colonel J. H. Leavenworth, 
Were present. The former held the confidence and 
friendship of his people—the Cheyennes and Arapa- 
hoes—but the latter appeared to have lost his hold 
upon part of his charges, at least, as Satanta, the lead- 
ing chief of the Kiowas, demanded a new agent. Hach 
tribe had its interpreters. Some of these were quite 
important figures in the negotiations. Mrs. Virginia 
Adams, who was of mixed white and Arapahoe descent 
and who spoke several Indian languages as well as 
English, was the interpreter for the Arapahoes. Phil 
McCusker, a noted frontier character, was the inter- 
preter for the Comanches. 

Writing twenty years later, Milton W. Reynolds 
reminiscently described the Medicine Lodge Peace 
Council as follows: 

‘Tt was a great council on the part of the Indians. 
It is said that there were 15,000 present. At first they 
were sullen and morose and not disposed to treat; 
they were hungry and mad. They were filled and after 
feasting, became better natured. It was at this council 
that I heird Satanta boast of the men he had killed 
and the horses he had stolen, ‘up at Larned.’ He rode 
a big black horse which was branded ‘U. S.’ Satanta 
was a fiery speaker, vehement, impetuous as a torrent, 
generally believed to be a common liar and a most 
consummate scoundrel. Kicking Bird was the second 
chief of the Kiowas and afterward became principal 
chief. He was a good Indian. I slept in the same tent 
with him. He once saved my life and that of my 
friend Colonel Murphy (superintendent of Indian Af- 
fairs), but as that incident is only important to our- 
selves, I pass it by. 

“On one occasion we (the peace commission) came 
very nearly being gobbled up by the Indians, and prob- 
ably would have been but for the presence of two old 
Indian fighters—Governor Samuel Crawford (of Kan- 
sas) and General William S. Harney. It was a dull, 
dreary day. Listlessly and lazily drops of rain drizzled 
all day long. Toward evening the Indians became 
restless; they moved about sullenly, sluggishly and 
slow; they would not come into the council. Governor 


859 


Crawford called General Harney’s attention to the un- 
pleasant signs which, to his practiced eye, were plainly 
visible. The troops of the escort were at once drawn 
up in a hollow square with the peace commission in 
the center and a Gatling gun turned straight upon the 
camp of the Indians. Needless to say, there was no 
massacre such as occurred under similar circumstances 
in the lava beds of Oregon a few years later. 

“After many days of powwowing, the Indians treated. 
They were given homes in the Indian Territory and 
agreed to leave and forever abandon Kansas. We— 
that is, the commission—slashed away promiscuously 
and gave away empires to the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, 
Kiowas, Comanches and Apaches—anything they 
wanted in the way of lands and hunting grounds in 
the Indian Territory—anything to get them out of 
Kansas.” 

As a matter of fact, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes 
were very reluctant to accept reservations in the 
Indian Territory, while the Kiowas and Comanches 
did not want to be confined to the limits of a reserva- 
tion of any kind or in any place. The speech of 
Satanta, the Kiowa chief, as reported by Stanley, bears 
evidence of this. His speech was in part as follows: 

“All the chiefs of the Kiowas, Comanches and Arap- 
ahoes are here today. They have come to listen to the 
good word. We have been waiting here a long time 
to see you and we are getting tired. All the land 
south of the Arkansas belongs to the Kiowas and 
Comanches and I don’t want to give away any of it. 
I love the land and the buffalo and will not part with 
any. I want you to understand also that the Kiowas 
don’t want to fight and have not been fighting since 
we made the treaty (two years before). I hear a 
great deal of fine talk from these gentlemen, but they 
never do what they say. I don’t want any of those 
medicine homes built in the country; I want the chil- 
dren brought up just exactly asIam.... 

“When I look upon you I know you areall big chiefs. 
While you are in the country we go to sleep happy and 
are not afraid. I have heard that you intend to settle 
us On a reservation near the mountains. I don’t want 
to settle there. I love to roam over the wide prairie, 
and when I do it I feel free and happy, but when we 
settle down, we grow pale and die. 

“Hearken well to what I say. I have laid aside my 
lance, my bow and my shield, and yet I feel safein your 
presence. I have told you the truth. I have no little 
lies hid about me, but I don’t know how it is with the 
Commissioners; are they as clear as I am? A long 
time ago this land belonged to our fathers, but when I 
go up the river I see a camp of soldiers, and they are 
cutting my wood down or killing my buffalo. I don’t 
like that, and when I see it my heart feels like burst- 
ing with sorrow. I have spoken.” 

In the end, however, the chiefs of all of the tribes 
were persuaded to sign treaties with the Government 
commissioners, by the terms of which their people 
were to accept reservations and cease from roaming 
at. large. They were plainly told that the buffalo 
would disappear from the Plains in the course of time 
and that they would have to settle down and till the 
soil for the means of subsistence. 

The treaty with the Comanches and Kiowas was con- 
cluded and signed October 18, 1867. It provided for per- 
petual peace between the people of these tribes and the 
Government, and that they should accept as a reserva- 
tion a tract of land lying between the Washita and Red 
rivers, west of the 98th meridian and extending to 
the North Fork of the Red River. There were many 
other provisions, including those relating to the estab- 
lishment and maintenance of the agency, of schools, 
and teachers; the Indians were to be furnished with 
such farming implements as they might desire, to- 
gether with seeds for planting, and were to be properly 
instructed in the art of tilling the soil; they were to 
have the privilege of hunting buffalo as far north as 
the Arkansas River and were to have certain specified 
annuities. On their part, the Indians were to cease 
from all depredations and withdraw their opposition 
to the construction of railways and the establishment 
of military posts and to refrain from molesting emi- 
grants, wagon trains, coaches, ete. The Government 
was to furnish physicians, teachers, blacksmiths, and 
such other employees as might be necessary. 

A supplemental treaty, concluded three days later, 


860 


provided that the Apaches of the Plains, who had left 
the Kiowas and Comanches and joined the Cheyennes 
and Arapahoes by the terms of a treaty made at the 
mouth of the Little Arkansas, two years before, should 
become reaffiliated with the Kiowas and Comanches. 

The treaty with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes was 
not finally agreed upon and signed until October 28th. 
By its terms a reservation, bounded on the north and 
east by the State of Kansas and the Arkansas River, 
and on the south and west by the Cimarron River, was 
assigned to these tribes. The rest of the provisions 
of the treaty were practically identical with those of 
the one which had been concluded with the Kiowas 
and Comanches, ten days earlier. 


APPENDIX XXXII—1. 
A LITTLE CHILD AS A PEACEMAKER. 


The peace agreement between the Kiowa and Paw- 
nee tribes was due to accidental circumstances rather 
than to deliberate intention. There had been open 
hostilities between the two tribes for generations. 
In those days, it was not uncommon for young Paw- 
nee warriors to strap three or four extra pairs of 
moccasins to their belts, fill a small pouch with dried 
meat, armed only with bow and arrows and a knife 
and carrying a rawhide riata, to start afoot for the 
country of an enemy in quest of horses About the 
year 1870, a Pawnee sub-chief started out at the head 
of a party of five warriors to go to the Kiowa coun- 
try after horses. They traveled at night and con- 
cealed themselves by day. After having covered a 
distance of more than four hundred miles and with 
all of their food supply consumed, they crept into a 
thicket just before dawn one morning. Soon, there 
was a disturbance near at hand. One of the Paw- 
nees crept out to reconnoitre, quickly returning to 
report that a Kiowa village was near at hand and 
that there was danger of being discovered. Again 
creeping out to survey the scene, he returned once 
more to report that the lodges were being taken down 
and that the village was about to be removed to some 
other place. 

Soon the village disappeared with the exception of 
a single lodge. Its owner was seen to mount his 
horse and follow after the disappearing cavalcade. 
Intently the Pawnee chief watched the remaining 
lodge. After a while, the owner was seen to return 
and dismount, his wife unsaddling the horse, which 
was hobbled and turned loose to graze. When she 
had followed her warrior-husband into the lodge, the 
chief signed his men to follow him. Approaching 
the lodge silently, they seated themselves in front 
of it. The woman was heard as she pounded dried 
meat. Soon a little child came to the lodge opening 
with his chubby hand filled with the shredded meat. 
Smilingly, he approached the chief and gave him the 
meat, immediately returning into the lodge where his 
mother was soon pounding meat. This was repeated 
several times until the child’s mother refused to give 
him any more meat. Again signalling the others 
to follow him, the Pawnee chief threw back the 
lodge cover and stepped inside. Instantly filled with 
dismay at the sight of so many enemy-warriors enter- 
ing his lodge, the Kiowa owner fell back to a reclin- 
ing position. Addressing him in the silent sign lan- 
guage, the Pawnee chief stepped forward and lifted 
him again to a sitting position, saying: “Fear noth- 
ing, friend, for we have eaten your meat and we mean 
no harm to you or yours. Weare hungry.” So they 
were fed. Then, the pipe was lighted and they smoked 
together. 

At this juncture, the lodge flap was again thrown 
back and the face of a Kiowa chief was seen at the 
entrance. Quickly the owner of the lodge (whose 
wife was the chief’s daughter) arose to explain the 
presence of the Pawnee warriors in his home. Con- 
vinced of their honorable behavior, the chief and his 
followers greeted the strangers kindly. They sat 
down to smoke together. Finally, the Kiowa. chief, 
using the sign language, asked: 

“You came for horses?’ 

The Pawnee chief answered: 

“We did, but we shall return without them.” 
Pree eee Kiowa chief replied that they should ride. 

e said: 


“You shall ride. This night our horse herd shall 


APPENDIX 


be left ungvarded. Take what you need. Our young 
men will pursue you in the morning but at the end 
of half a day they shall return without overtaking 
you. One thing only do we desire in return. Give 
to us the pipe that we have been smoking.” 

To this the Pawnee chief rejoined: 

“That we may not do, since it is a sacred pipe 
of the Pawnees—it may not be sold, neither may it 
be given away. But it might be lost. So, when we 
have traveled nearly to the middle of the day, I will 
draw my bow and kill a colt. Twenty paces east 
from the dead colt’s head, the lost pipe may be 
found.’”’ So, when the pursuers came to the colt that 
had been killed, the chief found the pipe that had 
been “lost,” interpreted it as a sign that the pursuit 
should be abandoned. A few months later, the Paw- 
nees returred—but not afoot. This time, they came 
asking that the warfare between the two tribes 
should end and that peace should be made. 

So it was that the smiling generosity of a little 
child led to the dissipation of the war clouds which 
had been at enmity ever since they had been known 
to each other. 


APPENDIX XXXITI—2. 
LIEUTENANT LAWTON QUELLS MUTINY. 


In order to impress the Northern Cheyenne pris- 
oners with the superior valor and ability of the white 
soldiers, the military escort of the nine hundred cap- 
tives consisted of but seventeen troopers, under the 
command of Lieutenant Henry W. Lawton, of the 
4th Cavalry. The transportation consisted of a pack 
train accompanied by twenty civilian employees, 
the journey southward, which required seventy 
days, was made from one military post to another 
stops, being made en route at Fort McPherson (Ne- 
braska), Forts Wallace and Dodge (Kansas), and 
Camp Supply (Indian Territory) for needed provisions. 
Sixty-six of the captive Northern Cheyenne warriors 
had been sworn in as Indian policemen, each being 
furnished with a cavalry horse and accoutrements 
and a Springfield carbine with three rounds of am- 
munition. Although the Northern Cheyennes were 
never tractable at best, Lieutenant Lawton treated 
them so fairly and tactfully that there were no signs 
of serious insubordination until after the cavalcade 
had reached a point within a few days’ journey of 
its destination. 

Shortly after leaving Camp Supply and crossing 
Wolf Creek, a herd of buffalo was encountered. ie 
was surrounded by Indians of the various tribes from 
the reservations in Western Oklahoma and by white 
hunters as well. The sixty-six Northern Cheyenne 
policemen then made a demand upon Lieutenant Law- 
ton for the immediate issue of more ammunition, 
ostensibly to enable them to kill buffalo. The lieu- 
tenant was warned by his interpreter, and also by 
George and Robert Bent, who happened to be pres- 
ent, that the real design in thus demanding more 
ammunition was to enakle the malcontents to defy 
the escort and retrace the backward trail to the 
North. Tne demand for more cartridges was there- 
fore refused. The members of the Indian police force 
thereupon withdrew to a position at some distance 
from the escort and the pack train, where they pro- 
ceeded to hold a pow-wow over the matter. Finally, 
a messenger was sent to Lieutenant Lawton to inform 
him that if he did not comply with the demand for 
more ammunition, the policemen would come and take 
it by force. Lieutenant Lawton was standing out in 
front of his little command when this ultimatum 
was delivered. Pointing to a buffalo path a few yards 
in front of his line, he turned to his interpreter and 
said: 

“Tell him” (the messenger) that I will kill the first 
man who tries to cross that path.” 

With his light campaign hat tilted back on his 
head and with an army revolvers in each hand, he 
looked as if he meant what he had said. Then, as 
the messenger galloped toward the mutinous group, 
he half turned toward the troopers and civilian em- 
ployees and said: 

“Get behind your horses and mules, men!” 

When his reply to the last demand was delivered, 
there was a howl rage from the baffled red police- 
men and they began to ride back and forth in ap- 


APPENDIX 


parent confusion. Soon, however, they formed in line 
with the evident intention of charging the little band 
of troopers and civilian packers. As the line of war- 
riors started, Lieutenant Lawton cautioned his men 
to keep cool, adding the injunction not to shoot until 
he did. The charging line came on like the wind and 
a few fleeting seconds brought it within two rods 
of the buffalo path, yet so sharply did each steed 
swerve to the right or to the left that never a hoof 
crossed the dead line. The band of malcontents soon 
scattered among their people and the threatened mu- 
tiny was ended. Lieutenant Lawton’s nerve had saved 
the day. 

(Twenty-three years later, as a major-general of 
the United States Army, Henry W. Lawton yielded 
up his gallant life on the field of battle, during the 
Philippine Insurrection. The city of Lawton, county 
seat of Comanche County, attests Oklahoma’s respect 
for his memory.) 


APPENDIX XXXIII—1. 


JESSE CHISHOLM, PATHFINDER, 
AND TRADER 


Jesse Chisholm was born in Tennessee, about the 
year 1806. His father was a white man, of Scotch 
descent, and his mother was a Cherokee Indian 
woman. He probably migrated to the West before the 
Western Cherokees left Arkansas. 
quiet, unassuming disposition, he became well known 
throughout the southwestern frontier because of his 
integrity and uncompromising honesty and truthful- 
ness. He has been mentioned in one way or another in 
most of the books and published reports of explora- 
tions and travels in the Southwest which were issued 
during the last forty years of his life. He is first 
mentioned in an account of a war between the Chero- 
kees and the Towakonies, about 1827. He accompanied 
the Leavenworth-Dodge expedition to the Red River 
country in 18384. 

He settled at old Fort Edwards (Camp Holmes), 
near the mouth of Little River, in what is now Hughes 
County, about 1838. His wife was a daughter of the 
trader, Edwards, and a member of the Creek tribe. 
About 1850, he established a trading post in the south- 
ern part of the present Cleveland County and, in 1858, 
he established another trading establishment or 
ranch, at Council Grove, on the North Canadian, about 
six miles above the site of Oklahoma City. He hauled 
large kettles to the salt springs in what is now Blaine 
County, where he manufactured salt several years 
before the Civil War. 

A man of most humane disposition, he rescued by 
ransom no less than nine captive children and youths, 
who (at various times) were held in bondage among 
the Comanches and Kiowas. These captives, most if 
not all of whom were Mexicans, were adopted and 
reared in his home as members of his own family. He 
Was a good business man and a successful trader, yet 
his generosity and charity was such that he never 
amassed as much wealth as a more selfish man might 
have done under similar circumstances. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War he was prevailed 
upon to act as a guide for Albert Pike, the Confed- 
erate commissioner, on occasion of his visit to the 
tribes on the Upper Washita for the purpose of mak- 
ing a treaty with them. Apparently this project was 
not to his liking, however, as a few months later he 
was numbered among the refugees who followed 
Opothleyohola for the purpose of finding an asylum 
in Kansas. But the refugee camps were distasteful 
to one who loved to live in the open, so he soon drifted 
west to the mouth of the Little Arkansas, where the 
Wichita and kindred tribes had settled for the time 
being. A small stream which flowed by his ranch on 
the present site of Wichita is still called Chisholm 
Creek. When he came south on his trading trip in 
the spring of 1865, he was accompanied by James R. 
Mead, another trader, who was one of the founders 
of Wichita. 

Along with Black Beaver, the Delaware leader 
(who was his friend and fellow trader), William 
Matthewson and James R. Mead (white traders), he 
was influential in helping to persuade the Comanche 
and Kiowa chiefs and headmen to attend the peace 
councils at the mouth of the Little Arkansas (Wi- 
chita), in 1865, and at Medicine Lodge, in 1867. He 


PEACEMAKER 


Although of a. 


861 


was universally trusted and respected by the Indians 
of many tribes. And white men had the same confi- 
dence in his integrity that the Indians did. His word 
was as good as his bond with merchants and supply 
houses with whom he had dealings, at Leavenworth, 
St. Louis and elsewhere. His services were in demand 
as a guide and scout with exploring expeditions, sur- 
veys and military commanders, though he was loath 
to accept such service as he cduld make much more 
money as a trader. Although he was growing old and 
feeble, he continued actively engaged in the Indian 
trade, until his death, much of the time out on the 
buffalo range. According to common report, he was 
able to speak fourteen different Indian languages. 
His services were in frequent demand as an inter- 
preter, especially by Government peace commissioners, 
surveyors, explorers and military commanders. Al- 
though he always had one or more trading posts, much 
if not most of his trading was done in the camps of 
the Indians on the Plains, his stock in trade and the 
products of the business being transported in wagons. 
Among the people of all the tribes of the Southern 
Plains, by whom he was recognized not only as a 
friend, but also as a brother, counselor, and arbiter, 
his death in March, 1868, was the occasion of great 
mourning. He was buried near the North Canadian 
River, in Blaine County. 

For further data concerning Jesse Chisholm and his 
career, consult Pacific Railway Survey Reports, Vol. 
III; Kansas Historical Society Collections, Vols. V, 
VII and VIII; Official Records of the Union and Con- 
federate Armies, Series I, Vols. XXII and XLVIII, 
Series IV, Vol. I. 


Recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior 


I find that Mr. Joy, one of the principal stockhold- 
ers of the Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad Company, 
in the year following the acts and the ratification of 
the treaties which have been mentioned, procured 
possession, by purchase, of the tract of land in south- 
eastern Kansas, immediately north of the boundary 
of the Indian Territory, known as the “Cherokee Neu- 
tral Lands” and that, soon after this purchase, the 
line of said railway company was located due north 
and south through the greater part of said Cherokee 
lands, and nearly if not exactly, upon the line dividing 
the land so purchased into two equal eastern and 
western parts; the construction of the road upon this 
line, which I believe to have been made for the pur- 
pose of giving, as nearly as possible, equally increased 
values to the lands so purchased, in all their parts, 
has taken this road off the line necessary to intersect 
the Indian boundary line, “at the Neosho River or near 
the same,” and that the road has, in fact, been con- 
structed to a point on the Indian boundary line about 
ten or more miles east of the said Neosho River, 
touching the reservation of the Quapaws, through 
which no power to pass has been granted by treaty or 
consent of the Indians holding that and several other 
small reservations in the northeastern corner of the 
Territory. I find, further, that the point where the 
said Kansas & Neosho Valley Railroad Company has 
touched the southern boundary of Kansas and the 
northern boundary of the Indian Territory, is not one 
reasonably within the meaning and purposes of the 
general scheme which I have found to have been fixed 
by the legislation and treaties referred to. In addi- 
tion to these considerations, I would submit that it 
would be manifestly unfair and inequitable if one 
company were allowed, at its own will, to change the 
plan of the route so as to shorten its own line to the 
common point and lengthen that of its competitors, by 
a distance which might be twenty-five miles, or equal 
to that from the Neosho River to the Missouri boun- 
dary-line. I therefore find that the Kansas & Neosho 
Valley Railroad Company is not authorized, under 
present legislation, to enter the Indian Territory and 
build the trunk line aforesaid, and that, to complete 
its right, at this time, to do so, it would have been 
necessary for the said road to have been completely 
constructed to a point in the Neosho Valley, at or 
near the crossing of the boundary line by the Neosho, 
and where it could enter the Cherokee country with- 
out crossing the reservation of any other Indian 
tribe. This, the said company has not done. 

As to the Southern Branch Union Pacific Railroad 


862 


Company, I find that its line of road is substantial and 
in accord with the scheme fixed by the legislation and 
treaties, but that said company has not built a com- 
pleted line of railroad, up to this date, to the crossing 
of the Indian boundary line. I find, further, that the 
said Railroad Company, without completing its said 
road to the aforesaid common point of crossing the 
Indian boundary, has gone on in advance to grade 
within the Indian Territory, and is, therefore, an 
intruder within said Territory, and that the complaint 
of the Cherokee Nation in regard to it is well founded. 

As to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson 
road, it is not averred on its behalf that it is now in 
a condition to claim the right of entry to the Indian 
Territory. ; 

As to the Atlantic & Pacific Company approaching 
the Indian Territory upon the east, I do not find that 
its claim to cross the Cherokee country is disputed 
by any other corporation authorized to build a road 
in that direction; but not having had fully before me 
the facts requisite to determine whether said com- 
pany has fulfilled conditions precedent to entering the 
Territory and it being admitted that the road has not 
yet reached the neighborhood of the eastern boundary 
line of the Territory, it is not necessary now to pass 
upon its rights. 


APPENDIX XXXIV—1. 
THE DEATH OF SATANK. 


When Colonel McKenzie started to leave Fort Sill 
with the Kiowa prisoners and the escort, Satanta and 
Big Tree rode in one wagon and Satank, who was so 
refractory that he had to be shackled, rode in another, 
with two soldiers to guard him. George Washington, 
the Caddo chief, was riding by the side of the wagons 
as they left Fort Sill. , 

Satanta sent a message to his people, brief and ex- 
plicit, though not so desperate. It was as follows: 

“Tell my people to take the forty-one mules that we 
stole from Texas to the agent, as he and Colonel 
Grierson requires. Don’t commit any depredations 
around Fort Sill or Texas.” 

When but a short distance from the post, Satank 
called to George Washington and said: 

“I want to send a little message by you to my peo- 
ple. Tell my people that I am dead. I died the first 
day out from Fort Sill. My bones will be lying on the 
side of the road. I wish my people to gather them up 
and take them home.” 

Then Satank began to chant his death song and, 
turning his back to the guards, he pulled the shackles 
from his wrists, tearing the skin from his hands in the 
process. He then produced a butcher-knife from be- 
neath his blanket, though he had been twice searched 
by the soldiers, and with it started for the guards, 
both of whom jumped from the wagon, leaving their 
guns. Satank picked up one of these and began to load 
it but fell, pierced by several bullets fired by other 
guards, and died in a few minutes. He was buried at 
Fort Sill, his own people declining to receive the re- 
mains for burial. 

Satanta and Big Tree were placed on trial before a 
Texas court, charged with murder. They were con- 
victed and sentenced to be hanged. Agent Tatum 
asked that the sentence be commuted to life imprison- 
ment, his petition being supported also by Colonel 
Grierson, General Sherman and the trial judge. The 
Governor of Texas granted the request. The Kiowas 
were cowed for a time, ceased raiding, restored some 
stolen stock and surrendered several white captives. 
They always demanded to be rewarded for bringing in 
captives (it having been the custom to exact a heavy 
ransom for the release of white prisoners) but Agent 
Tatum was firm on that point, no more rewards ever 
being paid for such transactions after he took charge 
of the Agency, at Fort Sill. 


APPENDIX XXXIV—2. 


BLACK BEAVER AND THE WILLIAM PENN 
TREATY. 


“You ought to stop raiding in Texas. You should 
send your children to school and then settle down and 
do as your friends, the Quakers, want you to do. The 
Quakers are your friends. Their fathers made a treaty 
with the Indians, nearly two hundred years ago, in 
which they bound themselves, and their children after 
them, to be friends to each other forever. This treaty 


APPENDIX 


has never been broken. The Indians have never taken 
any Quaker’s blood and the Quakers have always been 
true friends to the Indians. I am not telling you this 
from hearsay; though the treaty was made so long 
ago, a copy of it has been kept by my people; my own 
eyes have seen it and my own hands have held it. 

“Our grandfather at Washington knew about this 
treaty and for this reason has sent the Quakers among 
us. He Knew they would do right by his red grand- 
children. He sent two of them to build us a school; 
they made us a good school and we know they are 
good men; that they love the Indians and will take 
good care of the Indians’ children. He has now proved 
them and has taken them away from us and sent them 
to you. One of them—Mr. Thomas (Thomas C. Battey) 
—has been with you for a long time and you know he 
is a good man. Mr. Alfred (Alfred J. Standing) is also 
a good man. When you are ready to send your chil- 
dren to school, you will find they will be kind and 
good to them. The stone schoolhouse, to which we 
(Delawares and Caddoes) send our children, is yours. 
We know it is yours and we will give it up at any time 
you want it. We only use it because you do not an. 
because we have not enough room in our own school- 
house. 

“T attended the great council at Okmulgee, in which 
fifteen Indian nations were represented. They were all 
for peace. They wanted all the Indians of this Terri- 
tory to be united; to become as one people and to have 
one cause. The raiding of the young Kiowas and 
Comanches works against the progress and to the in- 
jury of all Indians.” 

Thomas C. Battey, the Quaker school teacher, who 
was living among the Kiowas of Kicking Bird’s Band 
at that time, was present at the council with the 
Comanche and Kiowa chiefs at the Fort Sill Agency 
and, naturally, was greatly interested in the story of 
the Penn Treaty which Black Beaver told in the course 
of his address to the chiefs. Afterward, when he vis- 
ited Captain Black Beaver at his home on the Washita 
he asked particularly about the copy of the treaty 
which William Penn had given to the Indians. He 
told Captain Black Beaver that he, too, would like to 
see it with his own eyes and hold it in his own hands. 
In reply, Black Beaver gave the following account of 
the Penn Treaty and its disappearance: 

“When William Penn gave the treaty to the Indians, 
he told them to keep it for their children who should 
live after them. They accordingly placed it in the 
hands of their principal chief for its preservation. 
Other treaties, as they were made, were deposited with 
him, but this he kept separate from them. When the 
chief died, these documents were taken care of by his 
successor. Afterward, when other treaties were made, 
as this treaty of peace and friendship made with Wil- 
liam Penn became of concern to several tribes, they in 
general council selected to have special care of this 
first, as they called it, ‘the Great Treaty.’ After his 
death another was chosen and so it continued to be 
preserved for many years by persons chosen in the 
general council. Eventually, as the different tribes 
became scattered, the Delawares retained possession 
of it and it was preserved by them as it had been be- 
fore, the tribe in council making choice of a reliable 
person to take care of it. As time passed on and the 
tribe moved westward this treaty fell into my hands 
and I had it until the breaking of the Civil War. 

“While on a visit to my sister, in the Chickasaw 
Nation, in the spring of 1861. I learned that an officer 
(Major William H. Emory, First U. 8S. Cavalry) whom 
I had known during the Mexican War, was in com- 
mand of the neighboring military post (Fort Washita) 
and I went to make him a visit. There I first learned 
of the secession of the southern states. As the Chicka- 
saws and Choctaws, by whom the fort was surrounded, 
were slave owners, the commander of the garrison 
found himself completely hemmed in by southern sym- 
pathizers, if not by open enemies, so that he saw diffi- 
culty in attempting to escape from such an embar- 
rassing situation. He accordingly laid the whole 
matter before me, as I knew the whole country well, 
and asked me to help get the force out of such a 
hazardous position. At first I objected to doing so be- 
cause of the exposed situation in which my own prop- 
erty would be placed and the loss that I might sustain 
if I did not promptly remove it (principally horses and 
cattle) to a place of safety. Upon being assured by 


CAPTAIN BLACK BEAVER 


Delaware Leader 


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APPENDIX 


him that the Government would fully reimburse me 
for any loss which I might sustain while thus endeav- 
oring to rescue its troops and property from threat- 
ened destruction, I finally agreed to make the effort 
to conduct them to a place of safety. This, from my 
knowledge of the country and my acquaintance with 
the other tribes, I was able to do, successfully guiding 
the command to Fort Leavenworth, a distance of more 
than 3800 miles and one which necessitated an absence 
of several weeks from my home. 

“As I was returning to my home on the Washita, 
from my journey to Fort Leavenworth, I met the Wi- 
chitas, part of the Caddoes and a few families of 
Delawares fleeing in consternation, the Chickasaws 
and other slave-holding Indians having invaded our 
country, burned our buildings, laid waste our farms 
and taken our stock. Thus rendered destitute and 
homeless I remained in Kansas until the War was 
over. After the War I returned with the other Dela- 
wares, the Wichitas and the Caddoes, to the valley of 
the Washita. There I found my home destroyed and 
my farm desolated and overgrown with brush. In the 
destruction of my home, the Penn parchment, so long 
and so carefully preserved by the Delawares, is sup- 
posed to have been burned.” 

The Delaware-Caddo Settlement on the Washita, 
near the site of Anadarko, was occupied and partially 
destroyed by a detachment of Texas State troops, in 
May, 1861, immediately after the occupation of Fort 
Arbuckle. This detachment, which was under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant William Cloud, had been directed 
to march up the valley of the Washita and take pos- 
session of Fort Cobb, which had also been abandoned 
by the Federal garrison, and of the Indian Agency 
near by. It is not probable that the improvements of 
any of the farms of the semi-civilized Indians were 
destroyed except in such instances as the owners were 
known to be adherents of the Federal cause, as in the 
case of Black Beaver. There is a bare possibility that, 
before the destruction of Black Beaver’s home that it 
may have been ransacked by some of the raiders, in 
which event, if the Penn Treaty happened to fall into 
the hands of some one of sufficient intelligence to ap- 
preciate its possible sentimental and historical value, 
it might have been carried off as a souvenir, and, if 
so, there is a bare possibility that it may still be in 
existence.—J. B. T. 


APPENDIX XXXV—1. 


GENERAL SULLY’S EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH 
CANADIAN, 


The expedition intended to operate south of the 
Arkansas was composed of the principal portion of the 
Seventh Cavalry and a few companies of the Third 
Regular Infantry, the entire force under the command 
of Brig.-Gen. Alfred Sully, an officer of long experi- 
ence among the Indians, and who had in times gone by 
achieved no little distinction as an Indian fighter and, 
at a later date, became a partial advocate of the adop- 
tion of the peace policy. General Sully’s expedition, 
after being thoroughly equipped and supplied, under 
his personal supervision, with everything needful in a 
campaign such as was about to be undertaken, crossed 
the Arkansas River about the first of September, at 
Fort Dodge, and, marching a little west of south, 
struck the Cimarron River, where it first encountered 
Indians. From the Cimarron, the troops moved in a 
southeasterly direction, one day’s march, to Beaver 
Creek, the savages opposing and fighting them during 
the entire day. That night the Indians came close 
enough to fire into the camp, an unusual proceeding 
in Indian warfare, as they rarely molest troops during 
the hours of night. The next day General Sully di- 
rected his march down the valley of the Beaver; but 
just as his troops were breaking camp, the long wagon 
train having already “pulled out,” and the rear guard 
of the troops having barely got into their saddles, a 
party of between two and three hundred warriors, who 
had evidently in some inexplicable manner concealed 
their approach until the proper moment, dashed into 
the deserted camp within a few yards of the rear of 
the troops, succeeded in cutting off a few led horses 
and two of the cavalrymen who, as is often the case, 
had lingered behind the column. General Sully and 
staff were at that moment near the head of the col- 
umn, a mile or more from camp. The general, as was 


863 


his custom on the march, being comfortably stowed 
away in his ambulance, of course it was impossible 
that he or his staff, from their great distance from 
the scene of the actual attack, could give the neces- 
sary orders in the case. 

Fortunately the acting adjutant of the cavalry, 
Brevet-Captain A. E. Smith, was riding at the rear of 
the column and witnessed the attack of the Indians. 
Captain Hamilton, of the cavalry, was also present in 
command of the rear guard. Wheeling his guard to 
the right about, he at once prepared to charge the 
Indians and to attempt the rescue of the two troopers 
who were being carried off as prisoners before his 
very eyes. At the same time, Captain Smith, as repre- 
sentative of the commanding officer of the cavalry, 
promptly took the responsibility of directing a squad- 
ron of cavalry to wheel out of column and advance in 
support of Captain Hamilton’s guard. With this has- 
tily formed detachment, the Indians (still within pistol 
range but moving off with their prisoners) were gal- 
lantly charged and so closely pressed that they were 
forced to relinquish one of their prisoners, but n- 
before shooting him through the body and leaving 
him, as they supposed, mortally wounded. The troops 


continued to charge the retreating Indians, upon 
whom they were gaining, determined if possible to 
effect the rescue of their remaining comrade. They 


were advancing down one slope, while the Indians, 


. just across a ravine, were endeavoring to escape with 


their prisoner up.the opposite ascent, when a pre- 
emptory order reached the officers commanding to 
withdraw their men and reform the column at once. 
Delaying long enough for an ambulance to arrive 
from the train in which to transport their wounded 
comrade, the order was obeyed. Upon rejoining the 
column, the two officers named were summoned before 
the officer commanding their regiment and, after a 
second-hand reprimand, were ordered in arrest and 
their sabres taken from them, for leaving the column 
without orders—the attempted and half-successful 
rescue of their comrades and the repulse of the In- 
dians to the contrary notwithstanding. Fortunately, 
wiser and better-natured counsels prevailed in a few 
hours and their regimental commander was author- 
ized to release these two officers from their durance, 
their sabres were restored to them and they became, 


“as they deserved, the recipients of numerous compli- 


mentary expressions from their brother officers. The 
terrible fate awaiting the unfortunate trooper carried 
off by the Indians spread a deep gloom throughout the 
command. All were too familiar with the horrid cus- 
toms of the savages to hope for a moment that the 
captive would be reserved for aught but a lingering 
death, from torture the most horrible and painful 
which savage, blood-thirsty minds could suggest. 
Such was in truth his sad fate, as we learned after- 
ward when peace (7) was established with the tribes 
then engaged in war. Never shall I forget the consum- 
mate coolness and particularity of detail with which 
some of the Indians engaged in the affair related to 
myself and party the exact process by which the cap- 
tured trooper was tortured to death; how he was tied 
to a stake, strips of flesh cut from his body, arms and 
legs, burning brands thrust into the bleeding wounds, 
the nose, lips and ears cut off, and, finally, when from 
loss of blood, excessive pain and anguish, the poor, 
bleeding and almost senseless mortal fell to the 
ground exhausted, the younger Indians were per- 
mitted to rush in and dispatch him with their knives. 

The expedition proceeded on down the valley of 
Beaver Creek, the Indians contesting every step of the 
way.* In the afternoon about three o’clock, the troops 
arrived at a ridge of sand-hills, a few miles southeast 
of the site of Camp Supply, where quite a determined 
engagement took place with the savages, the three 
tribes, Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Kiowas, being the 
assailants. The Indians seemed to have reserved their 
strongest efforts until the troops and train had ad- 
vanced well into the sand-hills, when an obstinate 


and well-conducted resistance was offered to the fur- 


*Sully’s Expedition apparently reached the valley of 
the Cimarron in the northern part of Beaver County, 
and entered that of Beaver Creek somewhere near the 
eastern line of the same county. Thence the route 
followed was southeastward through Harper County 
and into Woodward County, where the retrograde 
movement began. 


864 


ther advance of the troops. It was evident to many of 
the officers, and no doubt to the men, that the troops 
were no doubt nearing the location of the Indian vil- 
lages and that this last display of opposition to their 
further advance was to save the villages. The charac- 
ter of the country immediately about the troops was 
not favorable to the operations of cavalry; the surface 
of the rolling plain was cut up by irregular and 
closely located sand-hills, too steep and sandy to allow 
cavalry to move with freedom, yet capable of being 
easily cleared of savages by troops fighting on foot. 
The Indians took post on the hilltops and began a har- 
assing fire on the troops and train. Had the infantry 
been unloaded from the wagons promptly, instead of 
adding to the great weight, sinking the wheels some- 
times almost to the axles, and had they, with the 
assistance of a few of the dismounted cavalry, been 
deployed on both sides of the train, the latter could 
have been safely conducted through what was then 
decided to be impassable sand-hills, but which were a 
short time afterward proved to be perfectly practic- 
able. And once beyond the range of sand-hills but a 
short distance, the villages of the attacking warriors 
would have been found exposed to an easy and im- 
portant capture, probably terminating the campaign 
by compelling a satisfactory peace. Captain Yates, 
with his single troop of cavalry, was ordered to drive 
the Indians away. This was a proceeding which did 
not seem to meet with favor from the savages. Cap- 
tain Yates could drive them wherever he encountered 
them, but it was only to cause the redskins to appear 
in increased numbers at some other point. After con- 
tending in this non-effective manner for a couple of 
hours, the impression arose in the minds of some that 
the train could not be conducted through the sand- 
hills in the face of the strong opposition offered by the 
Indians. The order was issued to turn about and with- 
draw. This order was executed and the troops and 
train, followed by the exultant Indians, retired a few 
miles to the Beaver and encamped for the night on the 
ground now known as Camp Supply. 

Captain Yates had caused to be brought off the field, 
when his troop was ordered to retire, the body of one 
of his men who had been slain in the fight with the 
Indians. As the troops were to continue their back- 
ward movement next day, and it was impossible to 
transport the dead body further, Captain Yates or- 
dered preparations made for interring it in camp that 
night; but knowing that the Indians would thoroughly 
search the deserted camp-ground almost before the 
troops should get out of sight, and would be quick, 
with their watchful eyes, to detect a grave, and, if 
successful in discovering it, would unearth the body 
in order to obtain the scalp, directions were given to 
prepare the grave after nightfall, and the spot se- 
lected would have baffled the eye of any but that of 
an Indian. The grave was dug under the picket-line, 
to which the seventy or eighty horses of the troop 
would be tethered during the night, so that their con- 
stant tramping and pawing should completely cover 
up and obliterate all traces of the grave containing 
the body of the dead trooper. The following morning 
even those who had performed the sad rites of burial 
to their fallen comrade could scarcely have been able 
to indicate the exact location of the grave. Yet, when 
we returned to that point a few weeks afterward, it 
was discovered that the wily savages had found the 
grave, unearthed the body and removed the scalp of 
their victim on the day following the interment. 

Early on the morning of the day succeeding the 
fight in the sand-hills, General Sully resumed his 
march toward Fort Dodge, the Indians following and 
harrassing the movements of the troops until about 
two o’clock in the afternoon, when, apparently satis- 
fied with their success in forcing the expedition back, 
thus relieving their villages and themselves from the 
danger which had threatened them, fired their parting 
shots and rode off in triumph. That night the troops 
camped on Bluff Creek, from which point General 
Sully proceeded to Fort Dodge, on the Arkansas, leav- 
a ie main portion of the command in camp on Bluff 

reek. 


APPENDIX XXXV—2, 
BLACK KETTLE 


_Black Kettle, the Cheyenne chieftain, was about 
sixty-five years old at the time of his death. He was 


APPENDIX 


born near the Black Hills. He was reputed to have 
been one of a family of fourteen brothers, all of whom 
were killed in battle. In the division of the Cheyenne 
tribe, about 1835, his family elected to go with the 
southern company. Of his earlier life and career, not 
much has been recorded. His name appears for the 
first time as one of the signatory chiefs on a treaty 
with the Government when the document was nego- 
tiated and agreed to at Fort Wise, Colorado, in 1861. 
In this instance he was the first to sign as he was in 
the treaty of Mouth of the Little Arkansas (Wichita, 
TERME in 1865, and in that of Medicine Lodge, in 

While Black Kettle had doubtless distinguished him- 
self as a warriorin his younger years—in fact, he could 
scarcely have attained his rank and station had it 
been otherwise—he was peaceably disposed during the 
later years of his life. In the late summer of 1864, it 
was he who took the initiative by sending a letter to 
the post commander at Fort Lyon (formerly Fort 
Wise), stating that he and his people wanted peace 
and suggesting an interview or conference for that 
purpose. Taking a strong escort, Major E. W. Wyn- 
koop, the post commander, went to the great Cheyenne 
camp, nearly a hundred miles distant. There was an 
evident lack of harmony among the chiefs and con- 
siderable difficulty was experienced in the effort to 
open formal negotiations and even then Major Wyn- 
koop informed them that he had no authority to enter 
into a treaty with them, though he was willing to aid 
them in their effort to that end if it was their sincere 
desire. However, this meeting did result in his offer 
to accompany a delegation of chiefs to Denver, the 
territorial capital, for the purpose of interviewing 
Governor John Evans, who was ex-officio superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs for Colorado. Black Kettle, 
White Antelope and Bull Bear, all Cheyenne chiefs, 
with Left Hand and three minor chiefs of the Arapaho 
tribe accepted Major Wynkoop’s offer and occompanied 
him to Denver. 

At Denver, whither Major Wynkoop had sent word 
by courier in advance of his arrival, he had all that 
he could do to prevent his charges from being mobbed. 
Moreover, Governor Evans refused to discuss peace 
with the visiting chiefs, telling them to surrender to 
the military authorities if they really wanted peace. 
Major Wynkoop had already been in the volunteer 
military service for more than three years and much 
of that time had been spent in campaigning against 
hostile Indians, so he could scarcely be classed as a 
sentimentalist on the Indian question. Down to that 
time, he might have been said to know Indians mostly 
by reputation and, at that, a reputation that was 
largely due to an inflamed public sentiment that saw 
only the worst phase of Indian character and which 
refused to recognize the wrongs that had goaded the 
Indian into the most atrocious barbarities in retalia- 
tion. In riding to Denver with Black Kettle and his 
fellow chiefs, he first came into contact with respon- 
sible leaders of the American Indians in a personal 
way and, as he learned to know them, he learned also 
to respect them and to understand their viewpoint. So, 
too, when he had to stand between them and threat- 
ened violence at the hands of the people of his home 
town, these untutored savages of the Plains learned 
to admire and respect his courage and his fidelity to 
the promises which he had given to them. That his 
mission to Denver had failed was due to no fault of 
his, for military authorities, high above him in rank 
and power, had seen to it that his plans were 
thwarted. 

As Major Wynkoop rode away from Denver, he did 
what he could to assuage the bitterness of the dis- 
appointment which Black Kettle and his delegation of 
chiefs felt as the result of their rebuff at the hands 
of the official authorities. He sought also to encour- 
age them to be patient and to try to keep their people 
at peace. 
oped in their minds as to his sense of justice and fair- 
ness, Black Kettle and these other chiefs soon took 
their people and all their belongings to Fort Lyon, 
where they formally surrendered to Major Wynkoop, 
turning over their arms and all of their horses. But 
this did not satisfy the Indian haters, military and 
civilian, as evidenced by the telegrams that sped back 
and forth between Denver and the military depart- 
ment headquarters at Fort Leavenworth. Peace was 


As a result of the confidence which devel-. 


APPENDIX 


not to be allowed to come thus easily. Charges were 
preferred against Major Wynkoop and he was ordered 
to report at the headquarters of the military district, 
at Fort Riley, distant four hundred miles, and answer 
the same. _He was succeeded as post commander by the 
junior major of his own regiment, a weak-willed being 
who was ready to do the bidding of those who were 
plotting the destruction of the Indians despite the 
fact that the latter had surrendered in good faith and 
were implicitly trusting the honor of the white man’s 
Government to accord to them and their families the 
protection due them as prisoners of war. When Major 
Wynkoop left on his long and unpleasant journey, his 
last injunction to Black Kettle was that, come what 
might, he should keep the American flag flying over 
his lodge—an injunction which was most religiously 
observed. 

After Major Wynkoop was gone, events followed in 
rapid succession. First, the post commander gave 
back to the surrendered Indians their horses and their 
weapons and told them to leave as he did not want 
them around the post. He directed them to move to 
Sand Creek, forty miles to the northeastward. Then 
an expedition was organized at Denver, under the 
command of Colonel John M. Chivington, the com- 
mander of Major Wynkoop’s own regiment and a man 
who had long been an ordained minister of the Gospel. 
This expedition marched first to Fort Lyon, where it 
was reinforced by all of the troops that could be 
temporarily spared from the garrison. Then followed 
a night march to the camp on Sand Creek, which was 
reached and attacked at daylight. The Stars and 
Stripes were still flying from the top of Black Kettle’s 
lodge. More than that, when he heard the first shots 
fired, he asked White Antelope, his friend and fellow 
chief, to take a flag of truce out and wave it where 
the white soldiers could see it, so that they might 
know that the people of that village were at peace 
and not at war. But White Antelope soon found that 
the soldiers were shooting at him, regardless of the 
white flag which he was holding aloft. Then he threw 
it from him, folding his arms and died in the attitude 
of lofty contempt for white men who refused to honor 
one of the most significant emblems of their race. 

The carnage which followed was something appal- 


‘ling. When it ended, there were one hundred and 


sixty-one bodies of slain Indians—men, women and 
children—lying, stark and gory, in and around the 
lodges on that camp-site, many of them shockingly 
mutilated. Indeed, for fiendish ferocity, it may well 


‘be doubted whether the incidents of this massacre 


could have been outdone by the veriest savages. Only 


on the theory that officers and men must have been 


given a ration of gunpowder and whiskey can the 
enormities of that occasion be explained. What won- 
der that, when Colonel Chivington lay dying, nearly 
thirty years later, the spectre of that massacre came 
to stand by his pillow and that he babbled of the 
slaughtered babes of the Cheyenne village, as the 
sands of his earthly existence slowly ran out! Yet, 
even after this, Black Kettle remained firm in his con- 
fidence in and friendship for Major Wynkoop and other 
white men whom he knew to be true friends of his 
people and, less than a year later, he led in signing 
another treaty for, untutored even though he may 
have been, he was far too wise not to realize that only 
peace could save his people from extinction. 

After his death, in the affair on the Washita, there 
Was much dispute as to whether Black Kettle was 


J friendly or hostile at the time. Albert G. Boone, Wil- 


liam W. Bent, James R. Mead, William Matthewson 
and other traders and frontiersmen, who knew him 
well, discounted every story to the effect that he was 
secretly hostile and that he had only met a merited 
retribution. In General Sheridan’s ‘Memoirs’ (Vol. 
II, p. 318) the following statement was made: “Black 
Kettle was an old man and did not himself go with 
the raiders to the Saline and Solomon and, on this 
account, his fate was regretted by some. But it was 


old age only that kept him back, for, before the de- 


mons set out from Walnut Creek, he freely encour- 
aged them by ‘making medicine,’ and by other devil- 
ish incantations that are gone through with at war 
and scalp dances. When the horrible work was over 
he undertook to shield himself by professions of 


Okla—55 


865 


friendship, but being put to the test by my Offering 
to feed and care for all of his band who would come 
to Fort Dodge and remain there peaceably, he de- 
fiantly refused. The consequences of this refusal was 
a merited punishment only too long delayed.’ Yet, 
with all due respect to the memory of the dauntless 
commander of the Department of the Missouri, there 
is no evidence that he ever met or knew Black Kettle 
personally, or that there was ever any communica- 
tion or correspondence between them, hence it would 
seem that there might at least have been a possibility 
that the fancied ‘‘defiant refusal’? was after all but a 
mere failure to accept an invitation, on Black Kettle’s 
part. Moreover, since General Sheridan cited no au- 
thority for his statement to the effect that Black 
Kettle encouraged or incited his people by “making 
medicine’ and other incantations before they started 
on the raid, it would seem quite possible that this 
statement might have been based upon hearsay or 
unfounded rumor. 

Major Wynkoop, who served as tribal agent for the 
Cheyenne and Arapaho people from 1866 to 1869, and 
who probably knew Black Kettle as no other white 
man ever did, always maintained that the old chief 
was innocent of any complicity or responsibility for 
the raid through the valleys of the Saline and Solo- 
mon rivers, which was the actuating cause of the 
planning of a winter campaign on the Washita. In 
considering General Sheridan’s positive though unsub- 
stantiated statements, it is well to bear in mind that 
a controversy was then raging over a proposed trans- 
fer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the Interior 
Department to the War Department. Although Major 
Wynkoop had had a most creditable record as an offi- 
cer in the volunteer military service, he had been 
appointed to the position of United States Indian agent 
from civil life. He was snubbed by General Hancock, 
was sneered at in the writings of General Custer 
(“Wild Life on the Plains,” pp. ), while his de- 
voted and unselfish services were passed unnoticed in 
General Sheridan’s Memoirs. While ‘the Indian Ring” 
and the shortcomings of the average tribal agent may 
have been all that they were depicted by the propo- 
nents of the transfer of the Indian Bureau to the War 
Department, there was certainly no grounds for be- 
littling the service of Major Wynkoop as systematic- 
ally as it seems to have been done. 

It should not be forgotten that, after he had moved 
from the Arkansas down to the valley of the Washita 
with the people of his band, Black Kettle left them 
and journeyed to Fort Cobb for the purpose of report- 
ing his whereabouts to General William B. Hazen, 
who had been sent there for duty as a special Indian 
agent, and to assure him that he was friendly and that 
he did not want war. To this statement, General 
Hazen replied, informing Black Kettle that three 
columns of troops were already in motion for the 
purpose of enveloping and punishing hostile Indians; 
that these troops would be unable to distinguish be- 
tween the camps of friendly Indians and those of hos- 
tile bands and closed by warning him that, if he and 
his band were friendly, they should lose no time in 
moving down to Fort Cobb and placing themselves 
under the protection of the special agency. Black 
Kettle was so profoundly impressed with the serious- 
ness of the situation that, though it was late in the 
day and a storm was brewing, he started immediately 
to return to his camp, distant a full hundred miles 
up the Washita Valley. Caught in the severe bliz- 
zard which followed, he pushed on and arrived at the 
village, late in the evening before the morning attack 
in which he was doomed to meet his tragic fate. 
Though it was night and, despite a prevalent belief 
among the Cheyenne people that it was “bad medi- 
cine” to hold a council at any time except in the light 
of the sun, he hastily called a council in which it was 
determined that the lodges should be pulled down in 
the morning and the movement toward Fort Cobb 
should begin immediately thereafter, regardless of the 
severe inclemency of the weather. Had General Cus- 
ter’s squadrons arrived a few hours later, this Battle 
of the Washita might have been with some other vil- 
lage and the great tragedy of an unkind fate might 
have been visited upon some other chief, possibly of 
a different tribe. 


866 


King Philip, Pontiac, Cornstalk, Logan the Mingo, 
Tecumseh, Osceola, Black Hawk—all mighty men of 
their race—and who shall say that Black Kettle was 
not worthy to be mentioned with them! 


APPENDIX XXXV—3. 


MOW-WAY’S STORY OF HIS TRIP TO FORT 
LEAVENWORTH. 


“TI supposed, when we started, that the soldiers 
were going to take us away off and kill us. But we 
traveled on and on, day after day. in the wagons and 
were kindly treated. When one of the Indians was 
taken sick, I supposed the white men would be glad 
for him to die. But instead, they doctored him and 
seemed to do all that they could to cure him. But he 
died, and then they did not throw him onto the grass 
for the wolves to eat, as I expected they would, but 
the commanding officer sent some of his men to dig a 
grave for him. They made a box and put him into it, 
with all of his clothing, his bows and arrows; every- 
thing he owned, they gave him. The hole they dug 
was the nicest one that I ever saw. They made a 
little mound over him, smooth and nice. I could not 
understand why such mean people, as I thought the 
white people were, should be so kind to an Indian in 
sickness and after death. 

“When we had traveled many days, we came to 
where there was a new kind of road that I had never 
heard of. There was a very large iron horse hitched 
to several houses on wheels. We were taken into one 
of them, which was the nicest house I ever saw. There 
were seats on each side of it. As soon aS we were 
Seated, the iron horse made a snort, and away it went, 
pulling the houses! Our ponies could not run half so 
fast. It only ran a little while and then made a big 
snort and stopped at another white man’s village. The 
iron horse kept running and snorting and stopping at 
white men’s villages, and the villages kept getting 
larger and larger. I had no idea the white people had 
so many villages, or that there were so many white 
people. At length, we reached Leavenworth, which 
was the largest of any of the villages. There, the 
people were so many and the land so scarce that they 
built one house on top of another, two or three houses 
(stories) high. These houses were divided into little 
houses (rooms) inside. The houses were built close 
together on both sides of the road. They were full of 
people, and the roads between the houses were ful! 
of people. I know not where they all came from, but 
I saw them with my own eyes. I had no idea there 
were so many people in existence. 

“After we were taken over one of the houses built 
on top of another, we were taken into a house down 
in the ground, right under the other one. There was 
no one living in it, but there were barrels of foolish 
water (whiskey) in it. There was some of it offered 
to me to drink, but I saw that it made white men 
foolish who drank it, and I was afraid to take any for 
fear I would get as foolish as they did. 

“We were taken into a house that was built on the 
water (Missouri River steamboat), and it could swim 
anywhere. It made no difference how deep the water 
was, it could swim. There is where the sugar comes 
from. I saw men rolling great, big barrels of sugar 
out of the house on the water, and so many of them! 
Nobody need tell me that sugar is scarce after seeing 
the large amount come out of the house that was 
swimming on the water.” 

(After having been kept at Fort Leavenworth for 
some time, Mow-way and his little party of fellow 
warriors appeared at Fort Sill and reported them- 
selves to the post commander (General Grierson) as 
his prisoners, stating that they “had been sent from 
Fort Leavenworth in the custody of a white man, who 
took some foolish water at Wichita camp, and had 
been drinking there for several days and had lost his 
senses” and that they had come on without him. 
“Well,” said the General, “if that is the case, I will 
not treat you as prisoners. Orderly, take these In- 
dians to the Agency and turn them over to Agent 
Tatum!” There, the agent released them and told 
them to go to their own people. And Mow-way was 
ever afterward a man of peace.) 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XXxXV—4. 


GENERAL CUSTER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE 
SMOKE SIGNAL. 


* * * Before daylight the following morning we 
had breakfasted and as soon as it was sufficiently light 
to enable us to renew our march we set out, still 
keeping almost due west. In the afternoon of that 
day we reached the last prominent peak of the Wichita 
mountains, from which point Little Robe and Yellow 
Bear had said they would send up a signal smoke. 

I had often during an Indian campaign seen these 
signal smokes, on my front, on my right and left— 
everywhere, in fact—but could never catch a glimpse 
of the Indians who were engaged in making them, 
nor did I comprehend at the time the precise import 
of the sigrals. I was glad, therefore, to have an 
opportunity to stand behind the scenes, as it were, 
and not only witness the modus operandi, but under- 
stand the purpose of the actors. 

Arriving at the base of the mountain or peak, the 
height of which did not exceed one thousand feet, 
we dismounted, and leaving our horses on the plain 
below, owing to the rough and rocky character of 
the ascent, a small portion of our party, including 
of course, the two chiefs, climbed to the summit. 
After sweeping the broad horizon which spread out 
before us, and failing to discover any evidence of the 
presence of an Indian village anywhere within the 
scope of our vision, the two chiefs set about to make 
preparations necessary to enable them to ‘“‘call to the 
village,” as they expressed it. 

I have alluded in a former article to the perfect 
system of signals in use among the Indians of the 
plains. That which I am about to describe briefly 
was but one of many employed by them. First gather- 
ing an armful of dried grass and weeds, this was 
carried and placed upon the highest point of the 
peak, where, everything being in readiness, the match 
was applied close to the ground; but the blaze was 
no sooner well lighted and about to envelop the entire 
amount of grass collected, than Little Robe began 
smothering it with the unlighted portion. This accom- 
plished, a slender column of gray smoke began to 
ascend in a perpendicular column. ‘This, however, 
was not enough, as such a signal, or the appearance 
of such, might be created by white men, or might 
rise from a simple camp fire. Little Robe now took 
his scarlet blanket from his shoulders, and with a 
graceful wave threw it so as to cover the smoulder- 
ing grass, when, assisted by Yellow Bear, he held the 
corners and sides so closely to the ground as to al- 
most completely confine and cut off the column of 
smoke. Waiting but for a few moments, and until 
he saw the smoke beginning to escape from beneath, 
he suddenly threw the blanket aside, and a beautiful 
balloon shaped column puffed upward, like the white 
cloud of smoke which attends the discharge of a field 
piece. 

Again casting the blanket on the pile of grass, the 
column was interrupted as before, and again in due 
time released, so that a succession of elongated, egg- 
shaped puffs of smoke kept ascending toward the sky 
in the most regular manner. This beadlike column 
—had crossed it without horses, tents or food and, 
suddenly, in daylight, swooped down on them, cap- 
tured their village and made their chiefs prisoners. 

The council went right on, but “Yellow Hair,’ who 
had only listened before, now ‘made talk” 
He told the chiefs that he wanted the two captives 
alive and unharmed. He coolly ignored their protesta- 
tions that they had not even heard of white squaws 
among the tribes. He greatly disconcerted them by 
talking and acting as if they had not spoken, when- 
ever they lied. As their statements had all been false, 
except in minor matters, they now began to tell the 
truth. In the face of the recent denials, they now 
admitted that two women were held but said that the 
captives were at a camp fifteen miles down the river 
(Sweetwater). Custer told them to pack up at once 
and move down to that camp and he would come the 
next day and get the women. In an hour the last 
warrior galloped away to overtake the squaws and 
pack-ponies. The chiefs seized as hostages were Dull 
Knife, Fat Bear and Big Head. 


himself. — 


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APPENDIX 


That night, hunger and cold were self-invited 
guests. In addition, suspense was there—a new vis- 
itor. Next morning, the 21st, the column was early in 
motion. The Indian trail was broad the first five miles, 
then, as expected, began to fade away until, in another 
five miles, there was no trail at all. * * * At the 
end of ten miles was a camping place but it had not 
been used since the year before. 


APPENDIX XXXV—6. 
THE RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES. 


The regiment bivouacked for the night, and General 
Custer had the head chief taken down on the creek, 
a riata put around his neck and the other end thrown 
over the limb of a tree. A couple of soldiers took hold 
of the other end of the rope and, by pulling gently, 
lifted him up onto his toes. He was then let down and 
“Romeo,” the interpreter, explained to him that, when 
he was pulled up clear from the ground and left there, 
he would be hung. 

The grizzly old savage seemed to understand the 
matter fully and then Custer told him that if they did 
not bring in those women by the time the sun got 
within a hand’s breadth of the horizon the next day, 
he would hang the chiefs on those trees. He let the 
old chief’s son go to carry the mandate to the tribe. 

It was a long night, but everybody knew the next 
afternoon would settle the matter in some way. Ags 
the afternoon drew on, men climbed the hills around 
camp, watching the horizon, and about four p. m., a 
mounted Indian came onto a ridge a mile away. He 
waited a few minutes and then, beckoning with his 
hand to some one behind him, he came to the next 
ridge and another Indian came onto the ridge he had 
left. There was another pause; then the two moved 
up and the third came into sight. They came up slowly 
in this way until at last a group of a dozen came in 
sight, and with a glass, it could be seen there were 
two persons on one of the ponies. These were the 
women. The Indians brought them to within about 
200 yards of camp: where they slid off the ponies and 
“Romeo,” the interpreter, who had met the Indians 
there, told the women to come in. They came down the 
hill, clinging to each other as though determined not 
to be separated whatever might occur. I met them at the 
foot of the hill and, taking the elder lady by the hand, 
asked if she was Mrs. Morgan. She said she was, and 
then introduced the other, Miss White. She then asked, 
“Are we free now?” She then asked, ‘Where is my hus- 
band?” I told her he was at Hays recovering from his 
wounds. Next question: ‘‘Where is my brother?” I told 
her he was in camp but did not tell her he was under 
guard to keep him from marring all by shooting the 
first Indian he saw. Miss White asked no questions 
about her people. She knew they were dead before she 
was carried away. Custer had an “A” tent, which he 
brought along for headquarters, and this he turned 
over to the women. 

On the trip, a scouting party chased an Indian who 
got away from them, but he lost a bundle, which was 
thrown into one of the wagons. On examination, it 
proved to be some stuff that he had bought of some 
of the traders at the fort. It contained calico, nee- 
dles, thread, beads and a variety of things. The bundle 
was given to the women and in a surprisingly short 
time they had a new calico dress apiece. The story 
the wonien told us of their hardships, the cruelty of 
the squaws, the slavery to which they were subjected, 
their suffering through the long flight of the Indians 
to escape the troops, ought to cure all humanitarians 
in the world. The women told us the Indians had been 
killing their dogs and living on the flesh for the last 
six weeks. 

At the retreat that night, while the women stood in 
front of their tent to see the guard mounted, the band 
played “Home, Sweet Home.” The command marched 
the next morning for the rendezvous on the Washita. 
It was a couple of days’ march, but when the end 
came, there was coffee, bacon, hard bread and canned 
goods. Any one of them was a feast for a king. From 
Washita to Supply, Supply to Dodge, Dodge to Hays, 
where the women were sent home to Minneapolis and 
the Nineteenth was mustered out of the service. The 
Indian prisoners were sent to Sill and soon after the 
Cheyennes reported there and went onto their reserva- 
tion. 


867 


In writing afterward of the rescue of the two cap- 
tives, General Custer made the following statement: 

Men whom I have seen face death without quailing 
found their eyes filled with tears, unable to restrain 
the emotion produced by this joyful event. The ap- 
pearance of the two girls was sufficient to excite our 
deepest sympathy. Miss White, the younger of the 
two, though not beautiful, possessed a most interest- 
ing face. Her companion would have been pronounced 
beautiful by the most critical judge, being of such a 
type as one might imagine Maud Muller to be. 

Their joy at deliverance, however, could not hide 
the evidences of privation and suffering to which they 
had been subjected by their captors. They were 
clothed in dresses made from flour sacks, the brand 
of the mills being plainly seen on each dress; showing 
that the Indians who had held them in captivity had 
obtained their provisions from the Government at 
some agency. The entire dress of the two girls was as 
nearly like the Indian mode as possible; both wore 
leggings and moccasins: both wore their hair in two 
long braids and, as if to propitiate us, the Indians, 
before releasing them, had added to the wardrobe of 
the two girls various rude ornaments such as are 
worn by squaws. About their wrists were coils of 
brass wire; on their fingers had been placed numer- 
ous rings, and, about their necks, strings of variously 
colored beads. About the first remark I heard young 
Brewster make after the arrival of the two girls 
was, “Sister, do take those hateful things off.” * * * 

Upon our arrival at Fort Hays we were met by the 
husband of young Brewster’s sister, who had learned 
of her restoration to liberty from the published dis- 
patches which had preceded us to Fort Hays. He was 
still lame from the effects of a bullet wound received 
at the time the Indians had carried off his bride, 
whom he had given up as dead or lost to him forever. 
The joy of their meeting went far to smooth over 
their late sorrow. They could not find language to 
express their gratitude to the troops for their efforts 
in restoring them to each other. As the Indians had 
robbed them of everything at the time of the attack, 
a collection was taken up among the troops for their 
benefit, which resulted in the accumulation of several 
hundred dollars, to be divided between the two cap- 
tives. The time came for our guests to leave us and 
rejoin their people, or such of them as had survived 
the attack of the Indians. Good-byes were spoken 
and the two girls, so lately victims of the most heart- 
less and cruel captivity, departed with husband, 
brother and friends for their frontier homes, bearing 
with them the warm sympathies and cordial good 
wishes of every soldier in the command. 


APPENDIX XXXV—7. 


ENMITY BETWEEN INDIANS AND BUFFALO 
HUNTERS. 


The following extract from Robert M. Wright’s vol- 
ume of reminiscences, entitled “Dodge City, the Cow- 
boy Capital” (pp. 77, 78), gives some idea of the ill 
feeling existing between the Indians and the buffalo 
hunters: 

“There was great antipathy between the hunters 
and the Indians; they cordially hated each other. This 
hatred between them was greatly on account of their 
different manner of killing the buffalo. The Indians 
hunted the buffalo altogether on horseback, with bow 
and arrow, or else with a long spear or lance, which 
they planted in the side of the animal by riding up 
alongside of him. By either means they had to ride up 
close to the buffalo, scattering the herd and running 
them out of the country or off the range entirely. The 
Indians claimed they only killed for meat or robes, 
and, as soon as they had sufficient, they stopped and 
went home, the herds of buffalo soon gathering again 
and recovering their panic. Whereas, the hunter never 
knew when to quit or when he had enough, and was 
continually harrassing the buffaloes from every Side, 
never giving them a chance to recover, but keeping up 
a continual pop-pop from their guns. The Indians fur- 
ther claimed that the hunters’ mode of killing was not 
only unfair, but it was cowardly, and downright mur- 
der, pure and simple, for they did not give the buffa- 
loes the ghost of a show for their lives. They would 
get a stand on a herd by shooting the leader, at the 


868 


distance of a mile, clear out of scent and sound of the 
gun, and almost out of sight, and, in a short time, 
would annihilate the entire bunch, whilst the bewil- 
dered animals would wander around, taking their 
deaths, ignorant of what was the source of danger or 
how to get away. Besides, many of them, wounded, 
would wander off, out of sight and reach, and were not 
found until they were unfit for market; and the In- 
dians claimed that the noise of the hunters’ guns and 
their mode of killing would soon drive the buffalo out 
of the country or annihilate them. Time has proved 
that the Indians were correct. 

“A band of hunters cared no more for Indians than 
Indians did for footsoldiers, and, unless they greatly 
outnumbered the hunters, and then only under the 
most favorable circumstances, the Indians would not 
attack the hunters. They were afraid of the hunters’ 
big guns, his cool bravery, and, last but not least, of 
his unerring, deadly aim. Then, too, the hunter had 
but little plunder that was dear to the Indian, after 
the fight was won—only a team of work horses, and 
the red-skin cared much more for riding ponies than 
for work animals.” 

In the ‘Life of ‘Billy’ Dixon” (pp. 81-85), there ap- 
pears the following account of Dixon’s personal expe- 
rience in hunting buffalo in the forbidden territory 
when that sort of enterprise was attended by much 
risk and danger: 

“When the Santa Fe’s construction was stopped at 
Granada, hundreds of men were thrown out of em- 
ployment, and found it necessary to make some kind 
of shift for work, or leave the country. Right here is 
the catastrophe on the Little Bighorn, nor was such 
message received until several days later. The white 
man had a steamboat, railway and telegraph lines, yet 
the Indians at Darlington, nearly a thousand miles 
distant from the field of carnage, had word of result 
several days before the white man could bring the 
word. How was it done? By swift relays of runners? 
By heliographic signals? By smoke signals? Or were 
the tidings transmitted through the intervening space, 
as swiftly as the modern wireless, by telepathy? The 
white man does not know to this day, how it was done. 
Agent Miles sought to unravel the mystery but with- 
out success. During the intervening half century, the 
incident has almost been forgotten but it was the sub- 
ject of much local speculation at the time. 


APPENDIX XXXV—5. 
THE ARREST OF THE CHEYENNE CHIEFS. 


Then ensued a dramatic scene. Warriors swarmed 
like angry bees. On their bony ponies hundreds of 
them raced around their village and the two regi- 
ments in the most threatening manner. Around and 
around they galloped, brandishing their fine rifles, 
screaming with rage and baffled hate. Though taken 
by surprise they were now already dressed for battle. 
Their gorgeous war-bonnets, brilliant battle pennants, 
long-fringed leggings (stolen from some freighter’s 
wagon, doubtless), were all in sharp contrast to their 
Sheet-iron colored skin, for, cold as it was, few wore 
blankets. It seemed that they were in such a frenzy 
of hatred that they must throw themselves in sheer, 
insane fury upon “Yellow Hair’ (Custer) and his 
officers. But there was something ominous in the per- 
fect silence of the motionless soldiers, their clothes 
faded and ragged, their faces almost black from camp 
fire and storm, their eyes deep-sunken, their teeth 
protruding and their fleshless cheeks like lines of 
skeletons. More impressive still to the superstitious 
Indian was the fact that these soldiers had crossed 
what the Indians all regarded as an impassable desert 
of smoke, considering the height from which it began 
to ascend, was visible from points on the level plain 
fifty miles distant. 

The sight of these two Indian chiefs so intently 
engaged in this simple but effective mode of telegraph- 
ing was to me full of interest, and this incident was 
vividly recalled when I came across Stanley’s painting 
of “The Signal,” in which two chiefs or warriors are 
standing upon a large rock, with lighted torch in 
hand, while far in the distance is to be seen the 
answering column, as it ascends above the tops of 
the trees, from the valley where no doubt the village 
is pleasantly located. In our case, however, the pic- 


APPENDIX 


ture was not so complete in its results. For strain 
our eager eyes aS we might in every direction, no 
responsive signal could be discovered, and finally the 
chiefs were reluctantly forced to acknowledge that 
the villages were not where they expected to find 
them, and that to reach them would probably involve 
a longer journey than we had anticipated. Descending 
from the mountain, we continued our journey, still 
directing our course nearly due west, as the two chiefs 
felt confident the villages were in that direction. That 
day and the next passed without further incident.— 
Custer’s “My Life on the Plains,” pp. 217-18. 


From the time of the attack upon and destruction of 
the Black Kettle village, in November, 1868, the South- 
ern Cheyenne people were especially bitter toward 
General Custer—much more so, indeed, than toward 
other Army officers with whom they had been in con- 
flict. A number of warriors of this tribe are under- 
stood to have been with the Northern Cheyenne braves 
who were assembled with the Sioux on that fateful 
June day in 1876, when Custer and his immediate com- 
mand were annihilated. Several days later, the Chey- 
ennes who were living in camp in the vicinity of their 
tribal agency, at Darlington, suddenly began to dance 
as if in celebration of some great event. Finding that 
such enthusiastic dances were in full swing in all of 
the Cheyenne camps, Agent John D. Miles went among 
them to ascertain the cause. In reply to his inquiries, 
he was informed that there had been “big fight” in 
which ‘heap white soldiers are killed” and “Yellow 
Hair (Custer) is dead.’ At the time, neither the 
Agency nor the military post of Fort Reno, across the 
river from Darlington, had received a word concerning 
where the rapid extermination of the buffalo began. 
All of these men who could rustle a team and a wagon 
and get hold of an outfit went out on the Plains to 
kill buffalo. During the fall and winter of 1872 and 
1873 there were more hunters in the country than ever 
before or afterwards. Thus came the high tide of 
buffalo-hunting. More were killed that season than in 
all subsequent seasons combined, I feel safe in saying 
that 75,000 buffaloes were killed within sixty or sev- 
enty-five miles of Dodge City during that time. The 
noise of the guns of the hunters could be heard on all 
sides, rumbling and booming hour after hour, as if a 
heavy battle were being fought. There was a line of 
camps all the way from Dodge City to Granada. 
Throughout the time since 1871 Jack Callahan and I 
had worked together. 

“The increasing numbers and destructiveness of the 
buffalo hunters had been making the Plains Indians 
more and more hostile. The danger to hunters was 
increasing day by day. All that region south of the 
Arkansas was forbidden ground, the Indians insisting 
that the white men should obey the terms of the Medi- 
cine Lodge treaty. If the killing of the buffaloes 
should continue unabated, the Indians would soon be 
facing starvation; at least, their old freedom would be 
at an end, as they could no longer roam the country at 
will, confident of finding meat in abundance wherever 
they might go. 

“The Arkansas was called the ‘dead line’, south of 
which no hunter should go. The river was patrolled 
at intervals by Government troops, as a feeble indi- 
cation that the Medicine Lodge treaty had not been 
forgotten, but their vigilance was so lax that there 
was no difficulty in crossing back and forth without 
detection. The danger of attack by Indians was a far 
more potent obstacle to the buffalo-hunter, but as buf- 
faloes grew fewer in number and the price of hides 
advanced, even this did not deter hardy hunters from 
undertaking forays into the forbidden country. The 
troops were supposed to prevent the passing of the 
Indians to the north side of the river. This patrol 
also failed to work. 

“We gazed longingly across the sandy wastes that 
marked the course of the Arkansas. The oftener we 
looked the more eager we became to tempt fate. Even 
the sky looked more inviting in that direction, and 
often after a flurry of cold weather the wind from the 
south was mild, balmy and inviting. As a matter of 
fact, the possible danger of encountering hostile In- 
dians added spice to the temptation. 

“So we crossed over. Finding a pleasant stretch of 
bottom land, where the grass grew tall and thick, we 


i i i ie ll) 


APPENDIX 


cut and stacked a lot of prairie hay for our teams and 
saddle horses. The grass waved above our horses’ 
backs as we rode along. Later, we found Indians too 
numerous in this vicinity for us to devote much time 
to hunting and we abandoned the camp. 

“Before we made the change, however, Callahan and 
I, both well mounted, and followed by one man in a 
light wagon, started southward on a scouting trip, in- 
tending to be gone several days. We wanted to feel 
out the country and locate the buffalo herds. 

“When we reached Crooked Creek, we ran smack 
into a bunch of Indians, and had a skirmish with them. 
The Indians could not speak English. This did not pre- 
vent our understanding them. Their old chief mo- 
tioned to us to go northward. That was a long time 
ago, yet I remember clearly the appearance of this 
old warrior. Conspicuously, fastened under the skin of 
his left cheek he wore a long, brilliant feather. All 
the warriors were painted red and yellow. We be- 
lieved, however, that we were able to take care of our- 
selves, and continued on our way. Further down the 
creek, we struck another band of hostiles. This was 
rather too much of the same thing, and we decided 
that if we valued our scalps we had better pull out. 

“We turned around and headed for camp, missing it 
about three miles in the darkness, and going into 
camp for the night in the enemy’s country. Next 


morning we got back in safety, and called all hands ° 


round to discuss the situation. Plainly, to stay south 
of the Arkansas meant putting in more time fighting 
Indians than hunting buffaloes. 

“But buffaloes had begun coming in by thousands, 
So we agreed to remain two or three days and make as 
big a kill as possible. Hunting was good, and a week 
had slipped by. The hides were green, which forced 
us to linger until they were dry. Not only were hides 
hey easily handled when dry, but they made lighter 
oads.”’ 


APPENDIX XXXV—8S8, 
QUANAH., 


Quanah, or Quanah Parker, as he was later called, 
who was one of the most unique and interesting char- 
acters in the annals of Oklahoma, first came into 
prominence during the last Indian war. The mother 
of Quanah was Cynthia Ann Parker, whose tragic 
career has been briefly related in a previous chapter. 
Quanah was supposed to have been born about 1849, 
near Wichita Falls, Texas. He was about eleven or 
twelve years old when he lost his mother, for she 
died about three years after she was captured by the 
Rangers. His regard for her memory became one of 
the ruling passions of his life. A year or two before 
his death, her remains were moved from the Parker 
family burial ground and re-interred at Quanah’s 
home, near Cache. It was his dying request that he 
should be buried beside his mother, which was done. 

When he became old enough to be a warrior, he soon 
developed the qualities of leadership, and won rank 
as a chieftain through sheer force of character. He 
remained irreconcilably hostile to the white people 
until his final surrender in 1875. He then visited his 
mother’s relatives in Texas, and began to make an 
earnest and serious effort to prepare his people for 
the great change which he foresaw would have to be 
made by them. He also assumed her family name and 
was ever afterward known as Quanah Parker. Al- 
though he had been one of the active leaders in the 
Indian war of 1874, he was not among those chosen 
for punishment by being sent to Florida, presumably 
for the reason that he had never before been recon- 
ciled to a life of peace with the white man, and, hence, 
could not be charged with the violation of a treaty 
agreement. As he had been a leader in war, so he 
then became a counselor of peace and the ways of 
civilization, which he adopted. As such, his influence 
ey extended far beyond the bounds of his own 
ribe. 

He was a man of much thought and few words, 
albeit his words were heavy with meaning when he 
did speak. He was also possessed of the ability to put 
a whole chapter in a few words. Many of his laconic 
expressions will long be treasured by the white peo- 
ple who came to know and appreciate him during his 
later years. He was gifted with a remarkably keen 
sense of humor. His comments concerning the first 


869 


artificial ice plant that he ever saw, will illustrate his 
humor, as well as his brevity of expression. 

After he had forsaken the warpath and retired to 
reservation life, Quanah, like some of the rest of the 
Comanches, took trips to some of the frontier settle- 
ments at rare intervals. Upon one such occasion, he 
had gone with a company of his fellow tribesmen to 
Fort Worth, which was just beginning to kick off the 
swaddling habiliments of a pioneer community. While 
there, the entire party was taken to inspect one of 
the first artificial ice plants ever installed in Texas. 
It interested Quanah very much. He eyed every opera- 
tion intently, until the other members of the party 
told him it was time to return to camp, Quanah ac- 
companying them with evident reluctance. In a little 
while, however, he had slipped away from the camp 
and returned to the ice factory, where he spent an- 
other hour. He gazed at the seemingly ceaseless 
throbbing of the ammonia compressor: then he turned 
his attention to the pans whence the great ice cakes 
were removed and, next, he would walk over to an 
ammonia pipe, encrusted with white frost. This he 
would touch with his finger, shaking his head and 
muttering to himself, but making no comments and 
asking no questions. He knew it was ice, for he had 
dead it with his own eyes and had felt it with his own 

ands. 

The next day, Quanah accompanied the rest of the 
band back to the reservation. The first evening after 
arriving at his home camp, he was greeted with the 
question: ‘Well, Quanah, what does the white man 
do, now?” (All Indians had learned that the white 
man was always doing something new.) To this in- 
quiry, Quanah responded: 

“Oh, white man smart! White man heap smart! 
White man smarter than God! God make ice in win- 
ter—white man make ice in summer!” 

(It should be stated that Quanah did not say that in 
a spirit of irreverence. Rather, he wished to empha- 
size the evident fact that the white man had been 
Pies power over the very limitations of nature, 
itself. 


APPENDIX XXXV—9. 
THE ATTACK ON THE OSAGE HUNTING PARTY. 


“Upon hearing of the threats and preparations made 
by some of the Plains Indians to make war on the 
whites, I anticipated the order of the Department by 
sending runners to the Plains, where the Osage had 
just gone with their women and children and herds of 
ponies. In order to find buffalo, they scattered over 
that vast country and it was impossible to reach all 
the parts of bands with the information. One party of 
twenty-nine persons, including ten women and chil- 
dren, wandered to the state line of Kansas. Asking 
some white men who came to their camp if they knew 
of any buffalo, they were directed forward into the 
state to a sandy and uninhabited portion of the coun- 
try, where they at once proceeded, and found buffalo, 
a number of which they killed and dried the meat, 
They had no thought of doing wrong, as this was on 
their former reservation, where they had reserved the 
privilege of hunting as long as game could be found 
there and the country remained unsettled. The party 
was preparing to start home when they discovered a 
company of people in the distance. They decided to 
await their arrival and learn who they were. They 
proved to be about forty white men, mounted and 
armed with breech-loading guns and revolvers. They 
stopped when within half a mile of the Osages. The 
Osages sent out two of their men to Speak with them; 
they shook hands friendly, then disarmed the Osages 
and detained them. Other Osages, two together, con- 
tinued coming up until eight were treated as the first 
and held as prisoners. AS no more were seen coming, 
it was thought best to make sure of these, and the 
work of death commenced. Four were shot on the spot 
and four miraculously escaped the murderous fire. The 
white men then charged on those who remained in 
camp. They sprang on their ponies, not having time 
to gather up saddles, clothing or anything else, and 
fled for their lives. They were pursued three or four 
miles under a shower of bullets, but fortunately no 
more of them were killed. 

“At night, two of the party returned to look after 
the dead and their property. Three bodies were found, 


870 


two of them scalped and otherwise mutilated after 
death. Fifty-four ponies, colts and mules, that they 
had left behind when escaping, had been driven off by 
the marauders and all their property carried off or 
destroyed. They made the journey to their reservation 
in five days, without food, some of them on foot and 
most of them nearly naked. I immediately supplied 
them with food and clothing, and examined them 
separately in relation to their treatment and misfor- 
tunes, and obtained from them the facts here given. 
They also positively affirmed that they had but four 
guns (muzzle-loading) and two revolvers with them 
and that the white men took two of the guns and the 
two revolvers from those who were taken prisoners. 

“Without delay, I sent a commission composed of 
reliable men, to wit: Mahlon Stubbs, former agent of 
the Kaws; United States Commissioner Kellogg, and 
Edward Finney, to visit the place of disaster and 
ascertain who had committed the outrage, have them 
arrested if possible, recover the property and learn 
the facts they could in the case. They visited the town 
of Medicine Lodge, eighteen miles distant from the 
place of murder. The town was enclosed with a stock- 
ade and a company of about sixty border-men, armed 
with the latest improved breech-loading carbines and 
revolvers, were the principal occupants of the place, 
under the command of Captain Ricker and Lieutenant 
Mosley. The killing of the Osages was acknowledged 
with a vicious satisfaction, but much reticence was 
manifested by them in regard to details of the mur- 
der and robbery. They peremptorily refused to give 
any statement in writing under oath before the United 
States commissioner; also refused to deliver up the 
property which was seen by the commissioners, and 
said they were accountable to no one but the governor 
of Kansas, to whom they had rushed immediately after 
committting the crime, for protection, he mustering 
them in as state militia, and dating the papers back 
so as to legalize this cruel massacre. 

“One of the commissioners then went to the gov- 
ernor of Kansas, in company with Superintendent 
Hoag. He refused to deliver up the property in ques- 
tion. The commissioners then return to the Agency 
and took the testimony of some of the Indians. Nego- 
tiations are still pending for the recovery of the prop- 
erty and for satisfaction to the tribe for the loss of 
the four men. The Osages are patiently awaiting a 
just settlement to be made for them by the officers of 
the Government.” 


APPENDIX XXXV—10. 
THE BUFFALO WALLOW FIGHT. 


On September 10th, 1874, Colonel Nelson A. Miles, 
whose immediate command was then operating on Mc- 
Clellan Creek, in the Panhandle, a few miles west of 
the Oklahoma line, ordered Amos Chapman and Wil- 
liam Dixon, scouts, and four enlisted men of the 6th 
Cavalry, namely, Sergeant Z. T. Woodall and Privates 
Peter Rath, John Harrington and George W. Smith to 
carry dispatches to Camp Supply. This little party, 
aware of the great risk of such a journey, traveled 
after night and hid during the day in a secluded 
ravine. The morning of the second day a large war 
party of Ccmanches and Kiowas was unexpectedly 
encountered. The white men were quickly surrounded 
and had to make a fight for their lives. Dismount- 
ing in order to fight. on foot, Private Smith was 
elected to hold the horses. He was soon shot and 
all of the horses stampeded, with coats, canteens and 
haversacks attached to the saddles. Without food or 
water and in a most exposed position, the situation 
was all but hopeless. Finally the keen eyes of one 
of the scouts detected a buffalo wallow—a slight de- 
pression, ten feet in diameter. One after another 
they made a run for it—all except Chapman and 
Smith, both of whom were too seriously wounded. 
Drawing their belt knives they promptly began to 
deepen the depression by digging the earth, which 
was fortunately sandy, and throwing it out, stopping 
frequently to fire at the Indians when they threat- 
ened to charge or to approach the two wounded men. 
Smith was supposed to be dead, as he had not moved 
since he fell. Chapman’s left knee had been shattered 
and he could not walk. At imminent risk to his own 
life, Dixon finally ran to Chapman (who was a larger 


APPENDIX 


man than kimself) and carried him to the buffalo 
wallow on his back. The besieged men continued to 
dig their place of refuge deeper until they had quite 
a wall of earth about it. 

The September day grew hot as the sun neared 
the zenith and the men suffered severely from thirst, 
yet the visions of the frightful tortures which they 
would have to undergo, if captured, caused them to 
fight with sheer desperation. The wounded men—and 
they were nearly all wounded by that time—suffered 
greatly from thirst, but there was no water. But 
there was plenty of excitement, for the encircling 
cordon of warriors gave them no surcease from their 
watchful anxiety. They were careful of their am- 
munition and never wasted a bullet and a number of 
the Indians paid for their temerity by wound or 
death as the result of getting within range of some 
of the marksmen in the buffalo wallow. And then, 
just when their thirst seemed to become unbearable, 
a great black cloud gathered in the west and the 
lightning began to play and the thunder crashed and 
rolled, and soon the rain came in blinding sheets, and 
water—precious water—muddy, yes, and bloody too, 
from their own clotted wounds, tricked down the 
slopes of their earthen refuge and gathered into a 
little pool where they could and did drink. Then the 
wind shifted to the north and the temperature fell till 
all were chilled to the marrow. The Indians having 
withdrawn to a distance, one of the men went to 
secure the cartridge belt and revolver of Smith and 
was surprised to find him still alive. He was carried 
to the buffalo wallow but did not live long. 

It was a long nigit. Dixon wanted to avail him- 
self of the protection of the darkness to start for 
Camp Supply for help, but the wounded, who de- 
pended upon his skill as a marksman to protect them, 
protested. Rath then started out but came back two 
hours later and reported that he had been unable to 
find the trail. In the morning the sun came out and 
the air was soon warmed. Not an Indian was in 
sight. It was decided that Dixon should make an 
effort to reach Camp Supply. He soon found the trail. 
Then he discovered a detachment of troops approach- 
ing. It was under the command of Major Price. The 
surgeon examined the wounded men but did not dress 
their wounds. Then they were left where they were 
found, with no reinforcement, except that they 
were given some hard-tack and dried beef. They were 
hopeful, for they knew the news of their sorry plight 
would be carried to Colonel Miles, at least. All the 
rest of that day, all of the following night, all of 
another day, they waited and far into another night. 
And then, about midnight, they heard the faint sound 
of a bugle afar off. Again it sounded, and nearer, too. 
“Billy” Dixon said, “It made us swallow a big lump 
in our throats and bite our lips.” Then they fired 
their guns and soon the troopers rode up to them in 
the darkness, and they were saved. Three of the 
survivors had been seriously wounded and the other 
two, Dixon and Rath, were slightly wounded. Each 
of the five received honorable mention in General 
Miles’ report, were recommended for medals of honor, 
which were granted by joint resolution of Congress 
and were the subjects of a complimentary order is- 
sued by the commander of the troops in the field. 
The remains of Private Smith were buried in buffalo 
Wallow, where he died. 


“Billy” Dixon. 


The version of the buffalo wallow fight herein given 
is condensed from the account which appears in the 
“Life of ‘Billy’ Dixon.’ Although it differs in some 
important details from the one which was first pub- 
lished, ‘Our Wild Indians” (pp. 328-32), by Colonel 
Richard I. Dodge, United States Army, whence it has 
been largely copied and credited, Dixon’s statement 
appears to be the more reasonable of the two and, 
morever, has the support of corroborative evidence, 
as it is borne out by a letter written to Dixon fifteen 
years afterwards, by Sergeant Z. T. Woodall, who 
was one of his comrades in that fight. 

“Billy” Dixon was born in Ohio County (West) 
Virginia, in 1850. His mother died when he was ten 
years old and his father, two years later. For a time 
he lived with a paternal uncle in Missouri. At the age 


= 


~ 


oO ee a So 


a 


APPENDIX 


of fourteen he set out to make his own way in the 
world, inspired with an ambition to go farther west 
and see something of its wild life. He first “hired 
out” to a freighting outfit at Leavenworth, which 
was to cross the Plains, but the wagon train (which 
was in the government service) was ordered to South- 
ern Kansas instead. Later, he took his first trip 
across the Plains to Fort Collins, Colorado, as driver 
of a mule team with a freighting train. 

The winter of 1866-67 was spent by young Dixon 
attending a country school near Leavenworth—he 
had only had two terms of schooling before. The 
following spring he was back in the service as a 
freighter on the Plains. In the autumn of that year 
he drove one of the wagon teams in the train that 
accompanied the peace commission escort to the Medi- 
eine Lodge peace council. Continuing to follow the 
life of a freighter, he drove one of the wagons in the 
train which accompanied Custer’s command to Camp 
Supply, in November, 1868. The next year he fell in 
with two men engaged in hunting and trapping. 
From this he drifted into the occupation of buffalo 
hunting as a business, which he followed more or 
less continuously until the Indians put a stop to it 
in the summer of 1874. Thereafter he served with 
the government as a civilian scout at Fort Griffin 
until 1883, when he settled upon a tract of land em- 
bracing the original Adobe Walls, in Hutchison Coun- 
ty, Texas, where he made his home for twenty years, 

In 1894, Dixon married Miss Olive King, of Virginia, 
who had gone to the vicinity to visit her brothers 
who were neighboring settlers. In 1902, he sold his 
ranch at Adobe Walls and moved to Plemons, Texas, 
and two years later to a homestead in Beaver (now 
Cimarron) County, Oklahoma. In the autumn of 
1912, his wife insisted that the story of his life should 
be written for publication. She wrote it at his dicta- 
tion and even followed him to his work in order that 
no salient fact should escape. He was a strong man 
in rugged health at the time yet within a few months 
he was stricken by a fatal illness, his death occurring 
as the result of pneumonia, March 9, 1913. His auto- 
biography, the manuscript of which was _ edited by 
Frederick S. Barde, one of Oklahoma’s ablest news- 
paper men, was published within a year afterward 
and is rightly regarded as one of the most important 
of the recent literary contributions to the history of 
the Great Plains. A revised edition of the life of 
‘Billy’ Dixon, edited by the writer (J. B. T.) was pub- 
lished in 1927. 


APPENDIX XXXV—I1. 


GENERAL POPE’S REPORT ON SOUTHERN 
CHEYENNES AT DARLINGTON. 


“In so far as the Indians were concerned, there 
was but one troublesome and, at one time, dangerous 
affair, and that was due, as usual, to a dispute about 
food. On the 16th of August, the Southern Cheyen- 
nes made claims upon Indian Agent Miles for back 
rations which they asserted were due them, but to 
which the agent refused to consent. The Indians, 
about 300 in number, became violent and threatened 
to kill Miles and sack his agency. Indeed, they pulled 
him off his horse and compelled him to give them 
the order for rations which he had refused. Subse- 
quently, they dragged him out of his office and, but 
for the presence and influence of Captain Randall, 
Twenty-third Infantry, commanding at Fort Reno, 
would probably have killed him. Captain Randall 
marched a large part of his command to the point 
where the Indians were assembled and insisted upon 
their keeping the peace and submitting to the orders 
of Agent Miles. At one time the situation was very 
critical and but for the judicious and firm attitude 
and conduct of Captain Randall and the resolute pres- 
ence of his command, it is more than likely that 
serious hostilities would have been begun by the 
Indians. Too much commendation cannot be bestowed 
upon Captain Randall for his prompt and judicious 
action and for the respect for and confidence in him- 
self, with which he has impressed the Indians near 
his post. The effect of this faith in him was as great 
in keeping the peace as the presence of a military 
force prepared for action. Little Chief, of the North- 
ern Cheyennes, rendered most efficient service to Cap- 


871 


tain Randall, not only in restraining his own people, 
but in siding cordially and openly with the military 
authorities. I desire to bring to the attention of the 
Secretary of the Interior the admirable behavior of 
Little Chief, and venture to express the hope that his 
painful longing to go back to the north, which he 
honestly believes to be his right, may be considered 
favorably by the Interior Department. Certainly his 
ance on this occasion merits very great considera- 
ion. 

“This trouble about food has always been, and 
will continue to be, in constantly increasing propor- 
tions, the source of trouble with the Indians, and I 
would mos: respectfully recommend to the Secretary 
of the Interior that he forbid the Indian agents to 
punish or seek to control the action of the Indians 
by withholding provisions from them. Certainly some 
better and less exasperating method than this can 
be found to compel the Indians to work in the field, 
send their children to school, or to other things that 
the Indian Bureau may consider for the benefit of 
the Indian.” 

Eye witness gives the credit for preventing the out- 
break of active hostilities at the Darlington Agency 
that day to Ben Clark, who was the post scout and 
interpreter at Fort Reno, rather than to Captain 
Randall, whose force was badly outnumbered. At 
the critical juncture, Clark was said to have stepped 


‘forward and to have done some very effective work 


in persuading the Indians to take a more rational 


course. Captain Randall’s available force was said 
to have been too weak to overawe the mutinous 
Cheyennes. 


APPENDIX XXXV—12. 
PORTION OF GENERAL SHERIDAN’S REPORT. 


“T gathered from these, and many others of their 
party, that, while they agreed to the leases, they had 
become sick of the bargain. It was apparent that the 
signing had been done in an individual capacity, and 
by the encouragement, if not the forcible persuasion 
of the former agent (J. D. Miles), his employees and 
a large number of interested individuals who lived 
lawfully and unlawfully around the agency. These 
Indians now saw they had made a mistake and, while 
they had thus far exhibited no other spirit than that 
of submission to their fate, it had become clear that 
the obligatory abandonment of the places many of 
them had settled upon, and which was_ evidently 
caused by the fencing of the leases and white occu- 
pation, had wrought a feeling of dissatisfaction that 
could only be remedied, in their view, by cutting off 
the leases. Many of their cattle had been absorbed 
by the large herds, and ponies stolen. 

“No matter how the vexed questions relating to the 
leases may be ultimately settled, there is no doubt 
about one thing, and that is that a reorganization of 
the affairs of the reservation should take place. There 
are within its limits too many white people who have 
no lawful business here. All who are not authorized 
owners (or employees of theirs), all who are not offi- 
cially connected with the agency, and all who are not 
officially connected with the military post should be 
obliged to leave at once, and no one should be per- 
mitted to reside within its boundaries who does not 
come under these classes. The cattle companies em- 
ploy in all about 160 men, taking it the year round. 
The agency has seventy and the military post fifty- 
five authorized employees. There are twenty-one 
squaw men. To these may be added a roving and 
unauthorized population of about 200. With a view 
of regulating this white population, and also with 
the desire of restoring among the Indians a discipline 
and respect for the government officials, which seems 
to have been lost by loose and unskilled management, 
I have recommended to you a course embodying the 
idea that the reservation be temporarily placed under 
a military officer. I still adhere to that recommenda- 
tion, and feel confident a permanent settlement can 
only be arrived at by that means. As remarked 
above, the most of the Indians have lost confidence 
in their agent; indeed, many of them had never had 
any from the start. They looked upon him as the in- 
direct minister of the lessees, his policy of concen- 
trating them near the agency in effect accomplishing 


872 


the purposes the lessees have in view—that is, clear- 
ing their leaseholds of Indian occupants—and he will 
never be able to control them except under the pres- 
sure of physical fcrce. Every Indian who refused 
to acknowledge the leases or who declines to live 
near the agency and pursue a species of farming under 
the agent’s personal supervision, and every Indian 
who declines to immediately throw off the customs of 
his people and take up the white man’s road is re- 
garded with disfavor and denounced as bad, if not 
absolutely hostile. The Indians know all this. They 
have learned it from the agent’s report, from the 
newspapers, from half-breeds, squaw-men, interpret- 
ers, and the loose white element that has unfortu- 
nately followed the cattle-men upon the reservation. 
They blame the agent and employees with threaten- 
ing to disarm them, for giving rise to the excitement 
existing for some weeks past, and attribute to him 
many other ills, so that now there is a total lack of 
confidence. Therefore his power is gone, and I doubt 
if it can be restored except by absolute subjugation 
or placing here new officials in whom they will have 
faith. Firmness, justice, and above all, patience 
should govern in dealing with them. They cannot 
be expected to do in a day or in a long series of 
years what their eastern brethren, the Cherokees and 
Choctaws, have done. They are Plains Indians, no- 
mads, and meat-eaters, and have never until very re- 
cently attempted to till the soil, and any other than 
slow progress must not be expected, unless it be 
the desire cf the Government to accomplish their 
civilization by forced means.” 


APPENDIX XXXV—13. 
JOHN H. SEGER. 


John H. Seger, a native of Ohio, who, as a mere 
boy, had seen hard service as a volunteer soldier in 
the Union Army during the Civil War, entered the 
Indian service as an agency employee at Darling- 
ton, in 1872. Two years later, when the last war with 
the Indians of Western Oklahoma broke out, the 
teachers employed at the agency school deserted 
their posts and fied, as they believed, for their lives. 
In the midst of such demoralization, there was no one 
to take care of the school children, and Mr. Seger 
voluntarily assumed the responsibility. When the 
parents of the Indian school children learned of what 
had happened (for they were not of the hostile bands) 
they made some very sarcastic comments concerning 
the timidity of the superintendent of the school who 
had deserted his post in the hour of danger, urging 
that he be discharged, and that Mr. Seger be in- 
stalled as superintendent of the school. Although he 
had neither the education, training or experience in 
school work, the urgent request of the Indians was 
granted, and he was appointed as superintendent of 
the school, which he conducted successfully for sev- 
eral years. 

In the spring of 1886, he was sent by Captain Lee 
to colonize a number of Indian families on farms at 


a place distant sixty miles from the Darlington 
Agency. This became known as the Seger Indian 
colony, which eventually came to be regarded as a 


subagency. Farms were opened up and an industrial 
school was built. He remained in active control for 
twenty years, until the jealousy of younger and bet- 
ter educated men in the Indian service, and the re- 
sentment of politicians and speculators in Indian lands 
(whose efforts to spoliate the incompetent Indians he 
had often successfully thwarted) resulted in his re- 
duction in rank to that of District Indian Farm 
Supervisor. He continued to work in that capacity 
until 1915, when he voluntarily retired after forty- 
three years of continuous service. Mr. Seger died at 
his home, rear Colony, February 7, 1928. 


APPENDIX XXXV—14. 
BRIEF SKETCH OF CAPTAIN LEE’S REPORT. 


“An efficient and experienced force of employees is 
a Sine qua non to the successful work of an agent in 
the advancement of the Indians. With one or two 
exceptions I found such a force here industriously at 
work. Believing that none of the positions could be 
properly regarded as offices, to be filled with refer- 
ence to the employee’s politics, not having been sent 


; 


APPENDIX 


here on account of my political preferences, and not 
desiring to secure places for personal friends or rela- 
tives, I decided to keep the force at hand and make 
the retention dependent upon individual merit rather 
than outside influence. 


“One additional farmer was removed to make place 
for one appointed by the Department. The appointee 
in this case, though a most excellent old gentleman, 
is, I regret to say, by reason of old age and per- 
manent infirmity, not suited to discharge the duties 
of his position. I presume the Department was not 
aware of this when the appointment was made, though 
the facts have since been made Known. This farmer 
has done no full duty since July 8th, and the agency 
physician reports that he never will be able for active 
duty. I am now compelled to employ an Indian to 
perform the duties. 


‘Tt may perhaps be pertinent to express my views 
in relation to the removal and appointment of agency 
employees, and I do so in no spirit of disrespect to 
the highest authorities. If an agent uses his posi- 
tion to bestow personal patronage upon his friends 
and relatives because they are such, then it is quite 
apparent tkat if corruption, fraud and inefficiency— 
not wholly unknown in the past history of some 
agencies—creep in, the agent, to correct these evils, 
must rise to Roman standard of patriotism and duty; 
and abuses ‘in the family’ may escape the all-seeing 
eye of the dreaded inspector. If, on the other hand, 
the Departrient, from a long way off, appoints the 
clerks, farmers, carpenters, herders, et al. without the 
recommendation of the agent, without a _ personal 
knowledge of the applicant’s qualifications, without 
an acquaintance with the peculiar necessities of each 
agency, it is equally apparent that these new and un- 
tried employees will be a constant source of embar- 
rassment to the agent, und, instead of accelerating 
the progress of the Indians, will be a certain hin- 
drance to their advancement. The constant changes 
in one of the most difficult branches of the service, 
requiring, above all others, experience, tact and ear- 
nest work, is one of the most potent reasons for the 
snail-like progress in the civilization of the Indians. 
If the Indian is ever to be civilized, the work must 
be done right on the reservation, by the right kind 
of workers. All the conventions of well-meaning 
philanthropists, all the speech-making in legislative 
halls, all the traveling commissions that skim the 


surface and evolve theoretical solutions of the prob-— 


lem, will never do any practical good where the good 
is needed. No Indian can be civilized ‘from afar off.’ 
Were it practicable, almost every new employee, me- 
chanic or farmer, should serve a year or more of 
apprenticeship under ‘old hands’ before he or she is 
fitted to deal with the Indian understandingly. In 
two out of three of the appointments made at this 
agency, the Department was evidently misled as to 
qualifications and fitness. I hazard the opinion that, 
as a rule, those persons who, through political in- 
fluence and the importunities of their friends, press 
hard for positions at Indian agencies, are failures in 
civil life, and try to get foisted into some good place 
where a living is assured, which they found it diffi- 
cult to obtain in private pursuits. There may be 
exceptions, but they are not common. 
so appointed came with an implied warrant of in- 
fluence to ‘back him up,’ and the agent cannot well 
effect his removal for inefficiency without a prolonged 
correspondence. 
agency is the physician, and there is no earthly rea- 
son why an agent should nominate him in the first 
instance, because the agent cannot supervise his pre- 
scriptions nor diagnose his sick cases. But in regard 
to the other employees, the case is different. In my 


opinion, an efficient, experienced, faithful and reliable — 


clerk, farmer or mechanic should never be removed 
to make place for a new man.” 
APPENDIX XXXVI—1. f 
CHIEFS AND GOVERNORS OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED 
TRIBES. 
GOVERNORS OF THE CHICKASAW NATION. 


Cyrus Harris estos coecee 1856408 
Dougherty (Winchester) Colbert ......... -.. 1858-60 


Ade hove 656 6 16 ble 6 6 v8 


Every employee © 


The only professional man at an 


JOHN H. SEGER 


LIBRARY emery wo 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. 


APPENDIX 


errr SASL TS cat shes diel ew eve Midna semis che cca 1860-62 
PAG IGE VIN CIOLDORL © o ciclece sioheis ae elete ciety axa cielacsic - 1862-66 
(Horace Pratt acting Governor 1864.) 

LSTA gle Ga BB ol es ng eee i aie ie alieltid clelstiehever tial COO=10 
eae eee kad 40, VY EN sind py erietie oliel velista ern ielel erelie’ sia Pale yeie.c: elie ous ia o 1870-71 
POMOMAS ae. ATOM” vic sve ssneyeteistehee Buble ticreter shel ate arece 1871-72 
PEL USMELAL EMBL. tis atbetatic tart isietaeicieciniehaie oe <-sha ets 1872-74 
Bn Overton ees Gs owe olelsisisattenncetetare be rauein aie -. 1874-78 
tC SUT MOY wiccis cs ables viele hie 5 SANCHO ethers lS hor S0 
ESL MOL LO TS 0 ul clcne ictate: os foo uel bate ae tee pekweseieee UV LOSO-O4 
(Hickeyubbee acting Governor 1881.) 

Jonas Wolf ...... Sear ODOUR O ste reintele tiatel cite-sim 1884-86 
Sypeae ies Vie GALY Sissel aia cons <hecthaveye eiieretarn: aie’ eel 1886-88 
Py tiie. Tes YU sie cid ae, Geta ateatelons wate Dale d,elelece 1888-92 
SEOUL VCOIL Nahe s artes secs Eons eevee baie terete aeesonie alate 1892-94 


T. A. McClure served as Governor from June to Octo- 
ber, 1894. 
PBN TOP LS. SOBEL Y® c duaielc so oa ot dace a ls, loPeacna ven sh ete) 1894-96 
monert:M. Harris... 4 pra ehel ctaeacatevclomte te tiatekel eis 1896-98 
D. H. Johnston 
(Present incumbent 1929.) 


CHIEFS OF THE SEMINOLE NATION. 
1866-98—John Chupco, John Jumper, John F. Brown. 
PRINCIPAL CHIEFS OF THE CHEROKEE NATION. 


LL Letitare bo: ecEUOS PS ots safe cavdtaie ce wie lei widrabboa's Beers ls 1866-67 
Ps UES PHO WTA AD Py ea teh Clal's ba, cher vlaelveh apeteneie: oteten nia et ae 4 1867-72 
INP: TUOSS. sic sic site sa © wets CR aes Sent, ime et ote= ho 
SER ATLOR COI D SOL” sieie isis dis: s, ciet oieue sitlayel ste wiehelshs 5 1875-79 * 
Dennis Wolf Bushyhead ......:. On, aoa yo 1879-87 
Rie Gleees ly Gilt WO GR beid ered cutaae chee tetris wikia ate ole ase 1887-91 
ROLLS OTe ET CEU Geucietvents stera thei schotenckats. A Oise als cle. ove 1891-95 
PeIMNUIGLE EI OUSTCOM GWA VOSS a iecre ec \c oes) Sietaters else leave 1895-99 
Thomas Mitchell Buffington ...... OS HOT 1899-1903 
Dyaliam Charles ROSErS jis cece ¢ css.ces bie siaterelns 1903- 
PRINCIPAL CHIEFS OF THE CHOCTAW NATION. 

George Hudson ........ wie teayes Sata wkeraacPate 1860-62 
AIO GaP LANG on ccsiatet were tea “NEED PIC niekede tare 1862-64 
Olen be EILChly NN aceon eae OREN HEROES Outs 1864-66 


(John Wilkins as president of the Senate, acting chief 
from 1865-66.) 

(Nicholas Cochenaur, principal chief protem of October 
session of the General Council, 1866.) 


EMILE VV EIEN vine ce cae isusie e/a ogee oie elaetalavanecsts, sine - 1866-70 
WV ILIIATIY BY ANE slcls «lcs ae stelvie.s Paeelecie make ele Os es 
woremean COG ts tveys ocrcie so Mvaietetetarte’ ite $40 slevehclekate 1874-78 
teaae Garvin v.36 alee afecs chWellctenctavetany siatiete S's 1878-80 
rere SOD WCE UST Mico stein aia eisieete.ee. here, sie .cleiierw one 1880-84 
HMgmund) MeCurtain’ once senile SAMI HaD SS ces 1884-86 
PMOMpPson MCKINNEY H. s <.- ciecaierels ee sus 5.0 «ee» 1886-88 
ERO TES ELTEV LTT © COVYIZL LEW OO: Wa suacvancte ete oreciers, ares oeine’s ver eve 1888-90 
RV EESOT) “SPOTLESS (sc s cee claves S ieierovee iclicce, ‘ertrer tis ae 1890-94 
MEET SOT PCreLT ONG! bc cite Guere aw sie tole sveisieie ale-ete @ lellers 1894-96 
Green McCurtain ......... Sisfeleisiste Fis.s1@ stelala wad OO O=LOOO 
TrID erUe 1. CDURKES® vy... (cai so 80 sete Ol talsishs state ie craes mek OO0=02 
SCE eeVECCUTLALIN jae cists. aislens Sy arcteettic babe th ciee, ease LO 


PRINCIPAL CHIEFS OF THE CREEK NATION 


1866-1907—Samuel Checote, Lecher Harjo, Ward 
Coachman, J. M. Perryman, Legus C. Perryman, 
Isparhechar (Spiechee), Pleasant Porter. 


APPENDIX XXXVI—2. 
BEADLE’S DESCRIPTION OF INDIAN TERRITORY 
CONDITIONS. 


‘I have only given thus far, a few points gleaned 
from my conversation with the ‘white Cherokees,’ but 
our talk at dinner assumed a more personal and polit- 
ical turn. Mr. Parks had invited some of the older 
citizens to dine with us and, as at a Sunday dinner in 
the country districts in Ohio, politics came up for 
discussion. 

“‘What will you do with us?’ was the gist of the 
first question. ‘Will the Government give half our 
lands to the railroads and let the whites come in on us 
to try for the other half? 

“"The Government will not establish a territory 

here and throw it open to white settlers, unless the 
Indians are willing; but why are you not willing, if 
you can have a farm secured first to each citizen of 
the nation?’ 

“ “Because our more ignorant people and full-bloods 
can’t live with the Yankees settled all among them. 
Some tell us we can’t hold our lands in common the 
way we do. Why can’t we? If we can’t, then let it 


873 


be allotted, so much to each family, and the rest 
common pasturage. These full-blood Cherokees are 
the most simple minded, honest people in the world. 
They don’t know anything about trading or scheming 
with white folks. But you know it is the nature of 
white people to be grasping. Let them settle here 
and they would take all the advantage in trades, and 
the Indians could not live here.’ 

“The principal talker, an aged ‘white Cherokee,’ 
continued at some length and in good language to 
argue against the ‘Bill to Establish the Territory of 
Oklahoma,’ of which he produced a copy and read 
extracts. He related with increasing pathos the prin- 
cipal facts in the history of the Cherokees; their first 
general war with the whites, many years before the 
Revolution; their removal to the hill country of 
Georgia, Carolina and Alabama; their second move to 
Arkansas and a band to Texas; their expulsion from 
all other places and settlements here. As he pro- 
gressed, a growing sadness showed on every face. 
He concluded and an oppressive silence settled upon 
the company, so profound that I could feel the re- 
proach which seemed thus cast upon my Nation. The 
melancholy gravity, natural to the Cherokee counte- 
nance, seemed to deepen to the intensity of a fixed 
despair; young and old had the same solemn quiet, 
and even the rosy little girl bowed her head against 
the table, and her sweet, sad face seemed shadowed 
by the wrongs of three generations of her race. 

“To a question about the wishes of the full-bloods, 
the speaker replied: ‘Well, the full-bloods won’t take 
any vigorous action. They are an indifferent sort of 
people. They just say, ‘Let it alone. If the United 
States is a mind to break all treaties and all agree- 
ments, and break us up and destroy us, they’ll do it 
anyhow. General Jackson swore by his Maker that 
this land should be ours while the grass grew and the 
waters run, and if they’re a mind to break that, why, 
they’ll have to do it, that’s all.” That’s the way the 
full-bloods talk about it, sir. They won't do any- 
thing at all about it; just wait for it as if it was a 
storm or a streak of lightning.’ 

“From this and other conversations I found there 
were three distinct parties among the Cherokees: 

“Birst, the Territorial party, in favor of Oklahoma 
and white immigration, after setting apart, in fee 
simple, a considerable farm to each. Indian. 3 

“Second, the Ockmulkee Constitution party, in favor 
of sectionizing the land, giving each Indian his farm 
and the two railroads their grant, keeping all the rest 
in common as it is now, and uniting all the tribes 
under one government of their own (the Ockmulkee 
Constitution) with American citizenship and local 
courts; but no territorial arrangement and no white 
settlement. ma 

“Third, the party in favor of the present condition. 

“On further examination I found that the first party 
was very small among all the tribes—or rather, na- 
tions—and that the members of it were regarded as 
traitors to their race; that the third party had, as 
yet, a large majority of the whole people, but that the 
Ockmulkee Constitution promised most for the Indi- 
ans and had the support of their most able men. 

After spending several days at Vinita, Beadle made 
a brief trip into Kansas, where he had occasion to 
note the sentiment with regard to the opening of the 
Indian country to settlement. He continued (Ibid., 
pp. 361-64): 

“So I took the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road 
northward for a brief trip into Southern Kansas. From 
Vinita it is about thirty miles to the Kansas border. 
The country along the way bears the same general 
character—gently rolling and moderately fertile 
prairies, with clear but somewhat sluggish streams, 
and occasionally clumps or rather inferior timber. 
_. , . AS we near the edge of Kansas a sudden and 
surprising change occurs. From east to west appears 
an even line, with fence nearly all the way—on the 
south side an unbroken prairie, on the north farms, 
orchards, nice dwellings and every evidence of civ- 
ilization. If, on Fourth Street, Cincinnati, the north 
side should remain as it is, and the south side utterly 
vanish, leaving an unbroken plain as far as the eye 
could reach, the change would scarcely be more strik- 
ing. There is no gentle, almost imperceptible fading 
away from cultivation to wilderness; it is a sudden 


874 


jump from civilization to nature’s wildness, a sight 
every hour presenting powerful arguments in favor 
of the settlement policy for the ‘Nation.’ It is an argu- 
ment the Kansans appreciated and, once over the 
border, 1 found the popular view of the Indian ques- 
tion wonderfully changed. There is no casuistry in 
the Kansas view. They take the high ground that the 
land was put there to be fenced, broke, cultivated and 
improved; and if the Cherokees will not do it, ‘why, 
——— ’em, the Government ought to let them have it 
that will do it.’ 

“In my tour through Southern Kansas, I everywhere 
observed as I neared the Indian border, the hostility 
to that people steadily increasing. In Allen and the 
counties north, it took the form merely of a mild 
and rational objection to the neighborhood of such a 
people. A little further south, a stern opposition to 
showing any more favor to the race; and along the 
border, an intense, almost fanatical hostility and an 
expressed desire to ‘exterminate every red devil of 
’em.’ The borderer has no faith whatever in Grant’s 
policy, or any other policy looking toward the civili- 
zation of the Indian. He is an enthusiastic believer 
in the theory of the ‘doomed races,’ 

“Old Presbyterians who had lived upon the border 
here for ten or fifteen years, told me they had never 
seen a Christian Indian, had never had a reliable ac- 
count of one; that they were convinced that the na- 
tives were a reprobate race, and there never was one 
soundly and truly converted. The testimony of other 
denominations was about the same. The Kansas view 
continues: ‘Why should the Indian be fed, housed 
and clothed at our expense, and, at the same time, be 
allowed to roam over an empire, keeping white men 
out of the best portion of the public domain? Why 
not make them citizens, with the same rights to take 
and hold a given piece of land as other citizens?’ The 
answer, of course, is that, when the thing is done, the 
Indian’s day is also done; he can never stand in com- 
petition with his white neighbor, and will pass away. 
The reply comes back: ‘If the Indian cannot stand 
on his own personal merit, or with any native strength, 
then he has no right to stand at all; he must go, 
sooner or later anyhow, and the cheapest and most 
merciful way is the best.’ The neighborhood of the 
savage is an aggravation, and the virtuous Kansan is 
indignant because the occasional Indian will steal, 
and will not be chaste and temperate. The pivotal 
point of much of this talk is the Indian Territory, 
which the Kansan thinks is by far the richest and 
most desirable of all the sections yet within the dis- 
position of the Government. 

“The people of Kansas have seen altogether too 
much of that region to rest in peace. They have tra- 
versed it in the purchase of stock: they have driven 
cattle through it from Texas; they have pursued 
thieves into it, and the universal testimony, given to 
me, is, ‘the finest country, sir, God ever made.’ On 
that country every young Kansan has his eye fixed. 
Young men living on the border already have their 
quarter-sections picked out in the Nation, ready to 
jump at a moment’s notice, rush over and take pos- 
session. People easily believe what they wish, and 
hence the universal opinion in Southern Kansas is 
that the Indian Territory will be sectionalized and 
thrown open to settlement in three years at the far- 
thest. Should such action be taken by Congress, then 
all former excitement in our western settlement 
would be as nothing compared with the ‘rush’ which 
would take place. At least half a million people, 
from Kansas to Pennsylvania, are waiting for such 
a chance. Age 

“Let Congress pass an enabling act for that Terri- 
tory and, in three months, these roads leading south 
from Kansas City and Lawrence would double their 
business; in six months it would be quadruple. Throw 
open the territory next January, and it will be ready 
for admission as a State by January, 1875. There is 
unoccupied land for 100,000 homesteads. Settle it with 
white men and the lands of Southern Kansas would 
nearly double in value. During the process of settle- 
ment, they would have a ready market at their doors 
for all kinds of provisions at high prices. A trouble- 
some border question would be settled, and several 
border towns would take a new lease of life from the 
consequent trade. All the public lines through Mis- 


APPENDIX 


souri and Arkansas would largely increase their bus- 
iness, and Texas and Louisiana would share in the 
benefits. It will be seen that many powerful interests 
would unite, even now, in furtherance of the scheme, 
so many that Congress would probably resist but 
feebly. All the delegations in the Senate and House 
from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and 
Texas would be enthusiastic in its favor, and other 
border states would join from natural sympathy. All 
these railroad interests press strongly in the same 
direction. Thus the proposition would start in Con- 
gress, with a powerful party and, despite what east- 
ern members may think of the inherent merits of the 
scheme, or of natural justice toward the Indian, I am 
led to think that the Kansans anticipate rightly, and 
that the territory will be open to settlement before 
1875. These arguments are ever present to congress- 
men and lobbyists, while the protest of the Indians 
yearly sounds more feeble; and unless the Indian 
nations can be persuaded to adopt Ockmulkee, they 
may soon be compelled to accept Oklahoma.” 

When he was ready to leave the Indian Territory, 
Mr. Beadle summed up his conclusions concerning the 
proposed organization of the Indian Territory by Con- 
gressional enactment in part as follows (Ibid., pp. 
419-20 and 426-30): 

‘T have now traveled a month among the nations, 
some two hundred miles by rail and the same through 
the country afoot and on horseback. I have seen the 
Indians at home and on their farms, have attended 
their churches and visited their schools, have talked 
by their hearths and slept in their cabins, ‘eaten their 
salt and warmed at their fires.’ My general impression 
is one of the most agreeable disappointments. I have 
seen so much more of progress, of improvement and 
education, than I had been led to expect that, from a 
doubting indifference, I have attained to an earnest 
belief in their capacity and willingness for a perfect 
civilization. And if my conclusion should sometimes 
read like an argument for the Indian here rather than 
a simple statement of facts, I will not deny that my 
sympathies are powerfully enlisted for these people, 
and I would willingly do them a kindness if my hum- 
ble pen should accomplish it in a portrayal of their 
case. 

“Here are 60,000 red men who are neither hunters 
nor root diggers; they are agriculturists, herdsmen 
and mechanics. They long ago advanced from the 
savage to the barbarous state, when they first met the 
whites; since then they have advanced from the bar- 
barous to the half-civilized and civilized and, in an- 
other generation, we may reasonably hope to see 
them civilized and enlightened. This territory con- 
tains the hope, the stay, the glory of our aboriginal 
race. If these cannot be civilized, the race is doomed. 
With more than ordinary interest, therefore, I have 
studied their condition. I am now returned where the 
prejudice is strong against them; I hear them cursed 
every hour of the day, and from my window, at this 
moment, can look out on an angry company of ‘intrud- 
ers,’ just expelled by the military from the Osage 
lands in the Arkansas Valley. As briefly as possible, 
I propose to sum up my general observations and the 
reason why these Indians are entitled to the continued 
protection of the Government. 

“The present weakness of these people—at once 
their greatest drawback and the temptation to out- 
siders—as it seems to me, is their imperfect land ten- 
ure. The land is held in common by the whole tribe, 
but whatever area any citizen encloses with a lawful 
fence is his while he occupies it. He may be said to 
own the improvements but not the land. Nothing is 
absolutely a fixture. Anything may be removed at 
the owner’s will; hence there is practically no real 
estate, no conservative landed interest—the only true 
foundation for a progressive society and a staple civil 
structure. The herder, hunter or explorer, from Kan- 
sas or Texas, rides through a beautiful tract and, 
when he asks who owns it, the only answer is, ‘the 
Injuns—it’s Injun land’; that is, in his estimation, no- 
body’s land if he can by force or fraud get a foot- 
hold. If he were told that it was the property of John 
Johnycake or William Beaverdam, or any other indi- 
vidual, with a patent title, on which he could sue and 
be sued, the case would be very different to him. A 
yet party, therefore, is rising up, agitating for this 
reform. 


APPENDIX 


“This is a distinctive feature of the Ockmulkee Con- 
stitution, which commands the support of the best 
men of the three nations, and looks to a union of all 
the tribes under one government. It should receive 
every legal encouragement from Congress. But the 
common people are suspicious of this move; to them, 
sectionizing looks like an entering wedge for some 
scheme for dividing up their lands among railroad 
corporations and white immigrants. And where shall 
we look for the real power which gives impetus to 
the movements lately inaugurated looking to a ter- 
ritorial government and the opening of this country 
to a general immigration? By the treaties of 1866, all 
the nations agreed to yield the right of way, with 300 
feet along the track, to two railroads through the 
country. The roads which reached the border first 
were the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, running south- 
ward, and the Atlantic & Pacific, westward. Look at 
the charter of the first road and you will find one 
clause to the effect that the road is to receive every 
section designated by odd numbers, for ten miles on 
each side of the track—total of sixty-four hundred 
acres per mile—with these words conditional: ‘Pro- 
vided said lands become a part of the public lands of 
the United States. The moment the Oklahoma Bill 
becomes a law they do become ‘public lands,’ and the 
railroad title attaches at once. To the Atlantic and 
Pacific road, with its Van Buren branch, the grant, 
with the same condition appended, is twenty sections 
to the mile. Besides these, two other roads are press- 
ing their claims for contingent grants with fair hope 
of success. The present area of the Cherokee coun- 
try, exclusive of lands ceded for ‘other Indians to 
locate,’ is about 4,500,000 acres. The Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas Railroad runs through this for eighty miles; 
the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad will run about the 
same. Considering, then, only the roads actually built, 
this gives them at least 1,500,000 acres! The Okla- 
homa Bill, seventeenth section, says: ‘The Secretary 
of the Interior shall cause the lands in the said ter- 
ritory to be surveyed, and from and after such sur- 
vey the Indian title shall be deemed and held to be 
forever extinguished, and the lands to be public lands 
of the United States, subject to all the grants and 
pledges heretofore made by acts of Congress.’ 

‘Ts it difficult to see where the motive power and 
the ‘sinews of war’ come from? But the territorial 
bill specially provides that each Indian shall have 160 
acres. Let us see, then, where the white settler 
would come in. There are at least sixteen thousand 
Cherokees entitled to ‘head-rights,’ and two thousand 
more who can and will claim them by coming here. 
This takes up 2,880,000 acres. Besides, there are 
reserved school lands and some grants to mission 
stations. Add these up with the railroad grants, and 
you will find there is not quite enough land in the 
Cherokee country to fill the bill. To call it a bill in 
the interest of white immigrants is nonsense. In the 
Choctaw country there will be a small surplus—none 
in the Creek. Besides, in the Creek Nation, the Mis- 
souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad runs right down the 
Grand and Arkansas valleys, through the very best 
land, but in the Choctaw Nation it crosses the fine 
valleys at right angles, leaving a little more surplus. 
Where, then, in the northern part, would the white 
settler come in? He could buy of the railroad at per- 
haps five dollars an acre. Shall the Government re- 
voke a fee simple deed and cover itself with ignominy, 
not to benefit white immigrants, but to pile up moun- 
tainous fortunes for a few corporations? 

“The first fee simple patent in the Cherokee Nation 
bears the honored name of George Washington. Their 
patent for this country—for which they traded other 
lands sold by the Government for five times what it 
paid the Indians—was signed by Martin Van Buren, 
and it cannot be that their successor of today will 
sanction such an act of gross injustice and bad faith, 
so contradictory to his own wise and humane Indian 
policy, which has given him not the least of his great 
claims to historic immortality. 

“There are a score of reasons why a little time 
should be given the Indians, and why we should not 
throw open this country to settlement. In the first 
place, we have solemnly agreed not to do it, which 
is reason enough for any honorable man. Secondly, 
there is no present necessity for it. There are count- 
less millions of acres lying idle in every State and 


875 


territory north of it, untouched by the cultivator and 
even unoccupied by the herdsman. There is more un- 
used land in Kansas today than in the Indian Terri- 
tory. There is room in Nebraska for half a million 
farmers. There is a tract in Dakota, about the size of 
Indiana, yet unappropriated, with a climate suitable 
for northern people, and a most prolific soil. When 
these are filled, and our population really begins to 
feel crowded, it will be time enough to trouble the 
Indians; and long before that time these people will 
themselves vote to open the country, become like 
other borderers, and ask for immigration to help de- 
velop it. But, with Kansas on one side and Texas on 
the other, with as much or more good land, it appears 
to me as if thousands are half crazy to rush into the 
Indian country, just because it is forbidden. If these 
fellows who have been harrassing the Osages, and 
running across the border here, and back, for the 
past two years, had put in the same labor almost 
anywhere in Nebraska, they would have each owned 
a fine farm by this time. 

“In the third place, to sectionize the country and 
throw it open on the present plan, would do the white 
borderer little or no good. The railroads, of course, 
get the first grab: their land is already secured and, in 
the case of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas road, it 
would take the very heart of the country. Then, the 
Indians, according to their custom of living, would 


‘take all the fine timbered lands along the streams, 


and what would be left? Any prospective immigrant 
ean figure for himself from the statistics given, and 
he will find less than one-fifth of the good land would 
remain to select from, A few men would secure fine 
farms unquestionably, but for every such one, twenty 
would be disappointed. Several thousand young men 
in Kansas are fooling themselves badly about this 
country. There is not so much good land here as they 
imagine. And unquestionably, the climate is unhealth- 
ful for northern people. Nor is it for the interest of 
Kansas as a State to have this country opened now. 
Her Senators should oppose it strenuously. If there 
were half the amount of good land they imagine, 
Southern Kansas would lose 20,000 people at once by 
having it opened. It is now a waSte as regards them. 
Before the war, it was their great region of cattle 
trade and supply and, ere long, it will be again. At 
present we have a national use for the Indian Ter- 
ritory. 

“Our true policy is to secure these people in their 
homes, and make them our agents to deal with the 
wild tribes on the plains. Much has been done al- 
ready, and more will be, to set the race forward in civ- 
ilization. Half civilized and barbarous tribes are be- 
ing slowly reached through the medium of their more 
advanced brethren. The nations here are already 
moving in the matter, and a little assistance only is 
needed to enable them to reach and negotiate with all 
the wild tribes of Northern Texas and New Mexico. 
I am hopeful enough to believe that, with a proper 
policy, all the tribes in the same latitude, except pos- 
sibly the Apaches, might eventually be made citizens 
of this territory. 

“The treatment and fate of aboriginal races has va- 
ried greatly under different governments. The Romans 
absorbed and Romanized when possible; otherwise 
they removed and relocated them. When the Teutonic 
race overran Western Europe, the Celtic aboriginals 
mostly disappeared; but, in certain districts, from spe- 
cial local causes, or from a more humane policy on the 
part of the conquerors, remnants survived; and in 
portions of Scotland, the Erse districts of Ireland, 
Brittany and Celtiberia, are flourishing communities 
to this day, little islands of Celts in an ocean of Teu- 
tons. We alone have no fixed policy looking toward 
the saving and reclamation of any part of the native 
races. Writers, statesmen and theorists have made 
haste to assume that they were a ‘doomed race,’ and 
the Government has followed the exact policy to prac- 
ticalize that theory. We have sent them our worst 
men and most destructive practices, and have system- 
atically broken faith whenever it seemed profitable to 
do so. Here only has a policy, something near sensible 
and just been pursued, and the results are not discour- 
aging. Let it be improved and extended, and we may 
reasonably hope the Indians of all the southern terri- 
tories may be gathered here; that an aboriginal com- 
munity of 200,000 may grow into a high civilization; 


876 


and, in due time, we may have a real native American 
hewcgs a@ progressive and prosperous State of Okla- 
oma.” 
APPENDIX XXXVI—3 


PRINCIPAL CHIEF SAMUEL CHECOTE. 


The Chairman of the Government Commission (Gen- 
eral Fisk) notified the leaders of both parties of the 
time of the proposed council and especially enjoined 
that they should be prompt in attendance. It so hap- 
pened that the day selected for the convening of the 
eouncil was Monday. At the appointed hour, practi- 
eally all of the leaders were present with the single 
exception of Colonel Checote, who was principal chief 
of the Creek Nation. He did not arrive until twenty- 
four hours after the time set for the council to con- 
vene, which greatly annoyed the members of the 
government commission, who were anxious to avoid 
any delay. When he did arrive, Checote, who had 
been for many years a Methodist minister, made a 
most courteous and dignified apology for his tardiness. 
He said he could not have arrived at the council at 
the appointed hour except by traveling on the Sab- 
bath, which, he said, would have been contrary to the 
teachings of his church and faith, and, much as he 
disliked to disobey the mandates of the great govern- 
ment of the United States, such was his regard for 
the precepts and example of Christ, whose humble 
follower he was, that he felt constrained to postpone 
his start until after the Sabbath. General Fisk at 
once assured Checote that he had done right in fol- 
lowing the dictates of his conscience, and added that 
he would never again make a business appointment 
that would cause anyone to travel on the Sabbath, 
contrary to his beliefs and wishes. 

Samuel Checote was born in the valley of the Chat- 
tahoochee, in Alabama, in 1819. At the age of nine 
he was sent to a Methodist mission school near Fort 
Mitchell, in that State. The next year (1829) he came 
with his parents to the new Creek Country, in the In- 
dian Territory, where he continued to attend the mis- 
sion schools until the missionaries were expelled by 
vote of the Creek Council in 1835. He joined the Meth- 
odist Church after the missionaries were invited to 
return. He became a local preacher in 1844. Then 
the Creek Council made a law forbidding members of 
the tribe to preach, under a penalty of fifty lashes 
on the bare back. A number were severely whipped 
for the violation of this law, while others had to flee 
from their homes to escape such punishment, Checote 
being among the latter. Checote personally appealed 
to Chief Roly McIntosh, who ordered the persecu- 
tion to cease. Checote joined the Indian Mission Con- 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 
1852, and was active in the ministry most of the time 
until the cutbreak of the Civil War. During that 
conflict he served in the Confederate Army, reaching 
the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Ist Creek Regi- 
ment, under Colonel D. N. McIntosh. After the close 
of the war he resumed his work as a Methodist 
preacher, serving in various fields as circuit rider and 
as presiding elder. He was greatly interested in the 
education of his people and was president of the board 
of trustees of Harrell Institute, a Methodist mission 
school which was located at Muskogee, at the time 
of his death. He was one of the representatives of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the first 
ecumenical conferences of all of the various branches 
of the Methodist faith, which was held in London, 
England, in 1881. His name, with the spelling slight- 
ly modified, has a permanent place on the map of 
Oklahoma, as that of the town of Checotah. His 
death occurred at his home at Okmulgee, September 
3, 1894. 

APPENDIX XXXVI—4. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON GRAYSON 


George Washington Grayson was born near old 
Northfork Town in 18438, of mixed Scottish and Creek 
Indian blood. He entered the Asbury Manual Training 
School, a Methodist Mission institute at Northfork 
Town, in 1850. After completing his course there, he 
was selected as one of the students from the Creek 
Nation to attend the Arkansas College, now the Ar- 
kansas State University, at Fayetteville, at the expense 
of the nation. He had been in college two years at the 


‘. 


APPENDIX 


outbreak of the Civil War, when he left college and 
enlisted in the 2d Regiment of the Creek Confederate 
Volunteers. He was then a youth of about eighteen, 
but he won rapid promotion and, at the end of the 
war he held the rank of captain under the command 
of Company K, of the 2d Creek Regiment. He partici- 
pated in several battles and skirmishes during the 
war including the capture of the steamboat “R. J. 
Williams,” at Pheasant Bluff on the Arkansas River, 
just below the mouth of the Canadian. 

Soon after the war he married Miss Anna Stidham, 
whose father, George Washington Stidham, was a 
noted Creek leader. Like her husband, Mrs. Grayson 
was a quarter-blood Creek, and was accounted the 
handsomest young woman in the Creek Nation. 
Shortly after his marriage, Grayson was elected na- 
tional treasurer, which office he held for four years, 
For more than forty years thereafter, he served as a 
member of the House of Kings—the upper house of 
the Creek legislative council—from Coweta Town, as 
a member of the Tiger Clan. He was several times 
selected as a delegate from the Creek Nation to Wash- 
ington, where he looked after its interests at the Na- 
tional capital. 

After many years he was engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits and also operated a large stock ranch. In per- 
son he was a tall, dignified, handsome man of gentle- 
manly address and cultured mind. His entire life was 
spent at the scene of his birth, where all of his children 
were also born. 

In November, 1917, he was appointed chief of the 
Creek Nation by President Wilson. Nearly six months 
before his death, he sent his resignation to Washing- 
ton, asking to be relieved from his responsibility, but 
the resignation was not accepted. 


APPENDIX XXXVI—5. 
JOHN F. BROWN. 


John F. Brown was born in Tahlequah, in 1843. His 
father, a white man of Scotch extraction, had been 
a military sergeant and accompanied the Seminole 
people when they were removed from Florida to the 
Indian Territory. Although Doctor Brown was a 
great friend of the Indians, he was not allowed to 
marry a young Seminole woman of pure Indian blood, 
for the reason that the Seminole Nation had a law 
which prohibited any of its members from marrying 
a white person. The result, in this case, was an elope- 
ment to the Cherokee Nation. With his Seminole bride, 
Doctor Brown established his home at the Cherokee 
capital, where they lived for many years. The first 
child of this family was named John F. Brown, for 
his father. Each of Doctor Brown’s children was 
given a good education. They were also taught to 
work. At the age of eighteen, he joined his mother’s 
people in the Seminole Nation, and entered the Con- 
federate military service in a Seminole battalion com- 
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Jumper. The end 
of the war found him still in the service and holding 
the rank of a lieutenant. He became prominent in 
the Seminole Nation from that time on. In 1866 he 
represented the South, or Confederate Southerners, in 
the negotiation of the new Seminole treaty with the 
Government at Washington, and signed that instru- 
ment as a witness. After the close of the war, Colonel 
John Jumper and John Chupco, the leaders of the 
two factions into which the Seminole people had been 
divided by that struggls, jointly ruled as chiefs for 
more than a quarter of a century. Chupco survived 
Jumper but a short time and, after his death, John F. 
Brown was chosen as a principal chief of the Seminole 
Nation, a position which he held almost constantly 
for more than a quarter of a century. He engaged in 
mercantile business, as well as the ownership or man- 
agership of a large farm. He was greatly interested 
in education and it was largely through his interested 
efforts that the Seminole schools at Emahaka and 
Mekusukey were established by the Seminole National 
Government. He took great interest in the building 
of the first railroads into and through the Seminole 
country. For many years before his death he was an 
ordained minister in the Baptist church, maintaining 
a church near his home at Sasakwa, where he preached 
to his people each Sunday. He was often called to 
represent his people in inter-tribal council and occa- 


ee ee 


APPENDIX 


sionally to visit Washington, for the purpose of at- 
tending to their interests. He was regarded as a 
conservative man and was much trusted by all of the 
Seminole people. He died at his home October 21, 
1919. 

APPENDIX XXXVI—6. 


MEMORIAL OF THE DELEGATES OF THE CHER- 
OKEE, CREEK, AND CHOCTAW NATIONS OF 
INDIANS. 


SENATORS: Shall we stand dumb before you like 
a sheep before its shearer? Shall we lie down supinely 
and see our national governments destroyed and our- 
selves despoiled of our lands? Shall our altars be 
desecrated, and we be the painful witnesses of our own 
ruin? These are great questions with us, and we must 
meet them as men, husbands, and fathers. 

When we reached Washington about the first of 
January last we found a thoroughly organized party 
operating against every Indian interest. The most 
persistent efforts were b2ing made to intensify public 
feeling against us as a race, and at one time it seemed 
that we wculd be overwhelmed. Denounced without 
stint, and hunted with remorseless ferocity, it ap- 
peared that no age, sex, or condition would be spared, 
no rights of property respected, nor the slightest re- 
gard paid to the most solemn obligations of your 
government. Yet the leaders of this cruel warfare 
were for a while concealed under the specious pretext 
of being instigated solely by a desire to benefit the 
Indians. 

Every measure brought forward, it was claimed, was 
intended to operate for their advantage, not that of 
your government, and each was attempted to be 
clothed in the attractive garb of humanity, when, in 
reality, each had only the object in view of destroying 
them. They were invited with fair words into a 
charnel hcuse, where they were to be left to perish. 
Mr. Fitch, of Nevada, however, a leader in the specu- 
lators’ interest, at last threw off the mask, and boldly 
avowed himself in favor of extermination, and of seiz- 
ing the Indians’ lands. This was the message he sent 
to the Indians from the House of Representatives a 
few days ago; and this he proclaims to be his Indian 
policy, and calls upon Congress to adopt it! We had 
hoped that if our lands were seized that our lives 
might be spared, until God, in His own wise providence, 
called us away; but, alas! the sentiment has gone forth 
that we must be obliterated from the human family by 
the power of war, and not one of us be left, as at Ther- 
mopylae, to tell the tale of our destruction. We ap- 
prehend that if we had no rich lands we might, at 
least for a time, escape the wrath of our pursuers. 
But these lands are wanted, and every possible device 
is resorted to for the purpose of obtaining them. As 
bad as we are represented to be, we are thought by 
our enemies to be worthy of having a territorial rep- 
resentative in Congress; and then again we are told 
We are in the way of progress, and that “manifest 
destiny” has specially marked us for its victims; that 
it is all folly for us to repine at or attempt to avert 
our fate; that we must be driven on in one great pro- 
cession to premature graves, and that our homes 
must become the home of the white settler. All the 
measures which have been concocted look to these 
ends, and still their authors pretend to be our friends. 
Friends, indeed! It is the friendship or attachment 
which the foreigner showed to the Hindoo religion 
when he consented to become one of its priests, that 
he might rifle the temple of Juggernaut of the diamond 
eye. We know, we feel, that we have friends in Con- 
gress, men of large souls and just views, who rise far 
above any selfish consideration, and to them and to our 
God we commit-our caase. The plea of ‘manifest 
destiny” is the plea of those who fear not God and 
covet their neighbor’s goods. There is one feature 
which distinctly marks the course of our pretended 
friends. They are swift to hunt up every fragment of 
record which they suppose will militate against the 
Indians, distort its meaning, and parade it before the 
public gaze, but suppress every particle of record 
which is favorable to the Indians, and refuse to ful- 
fill the most solemn treaties with them, 

It cannot have escaped your notice, senators, that 
the earliest and fiercest assaults which have been made 
upon us at the present session originated in the House 


877 


of Representatives, and proceeded from a few mem- 
bers. Two territorial bills were introduced there for 
our future government; also a bill looking to the 
divestment of our landed titles; a resolution to direct 
the Judiciary Committee to inquire if we are cit- 
izens by virtue of the fourteenth amendment, when it 
is so obvious to all that it does not change our polit- 
ical status under the Constitution, leaves us just as we 
were; and still oth3r measures tending to our injury 
and overthrow. Now, the House is silent on these sub- 
jects. Even the resolution which had passed that 
body providing for a Joint Committee on Indian Af- 
fairs, and which, after a persistent and protracted 
struggle, passed the Senate, with amendments, is now 
no more heard of, for the reason, as we are informed 
and believe, that its special friends ascertained they 
would not be upon that committee if the resolution 
passed, and, consequently, had no further use for it. 

After looking over the whole ground, the party or- 
ganized against us thought best to change the theatre 
of action to the Senate, and bring to bear all available 
force on that body in favor of one bill which would 
embrace all the objects in view, and which, if passed, 
would answer all their purposes. We do not charge 
that they can or will effect anything in the Senate, 
nor do we wish to be understood as casting any asper- 
sion on the motives of any Senator; but we conceive 
it to be our province and duty to examine, in a respect- 
ful and dignified manner, the bill of Senator Rice, and 
ascertain its scope and effect. The bill was referred 
to the Committee on the Territories, reported back 
by Senator McDonald, Senator Rice’s colleague, and 
its passage recommended. It involves at least three 
grave and important legal questions, which we sup- 
pose it would be proper for the Judiciary Committee to 
pass upon, and not the Committee on the Territories. 

First. Whethar Congress has the constitutional 
right, in view of our status, treaties, and existing laws, 
to establish a territorial government over us. 

Second. Whether we are citizens under the four- 
teenth amendment to the Constitution. 

Third. Whether the bill does not contain provisions 
violative to our treaty stipulations. 

We believe it to be wrong in principle on all these 
questions, and various others. We believe it to be 
fraught with danger to the Indians; so much so, indeed, 
that if it should become a law and be enforced by the 
bayonet (it could never be enforced in any other way) 
it would end our career as a people, and turn us out 
upon the world a penniless race. We know too well 
what would follow, not to stand at the threshold and 
warn our friends at home of the impending danger, 
and implore you, senators, by the sacred memories of 
the past, and your exalted sense of justice, to protect 
us from the invaders of our soil, and save us from 
final extinguishment. May the Great Father of us all, 
who cannot look upon oppression with the least degree 
of allowance, guide you in your efforts to protect the 
weak and helpless. 

Until the almost countless swarm of squatters 
reached the borders of our lands, around which they 
are now hovering, impatiently awaiting the hour when 
they can erter upon them, and the iron rail pointed 
in their direction, and the speculator saw they were 
fair to look upon, each making common cause with the 
border politician, who could well understand we had 
no votes to give to him, the “new Indian policy” of 
which we have spoken was not dreamed of—a policy 
vastly different from the peace policy of the President; 
the first a policy of war and extermination; the last a 
policy of peace anid preservation. The struggle forced 
upon us is one between our rights and existence on the 
one hand, and the speculator and land pirate on the 
other. We are few and poor, and they are many and 
rich. We may go to the wall, but it will only be when 
all our efforts fail to protect our wives and children, 
and shield cur homes from the devastating step of the 
intruder; or, to use the common expression applied to 
us, when we must yield to “manifest destiny,’ and 
sleep beneath the sod which the plow-share turns over 
our final resting-place. It is folly to tell us that those 
who are engaged in these schemes are our friends, 
seeking to promote our welfare. They mean no such 
thing as friendship—friends never act as they do. 
They believe with, and act upon the principle of, Mr. 
Fitch, that “the only good Indians are the dead Indi- 
ans,” and we would be deluding ourselves, and false to 


878 


our people, if we did not proclaim the fact now and 
here. The notes of their siren song fall upon our ears 
like the dull heavy notes of death, and our feet are 
asked to keep time with the funeral march to the 
grave. We cannot, senators, we dare not be silent. 
We mean to be respectful, but we must speak the 
truth in our own defense. 

The territorial bill, now pending before your body, 
contains more extended and alarming provisions than 
are embraced in either of the two House bills which 
we have heretofore discussed. We do not think it 
necessary, however, to dwell upon its usual organic 
details. We have heretofore said enough upon that 
point. To assume that it is based upon the grants 
made in our treaties is to assume that error is truth. 
Where is the treaty in which can be found a provision 
surrendering our national independence, and consent- 
ing to the abolition of our own local governments? 
Where and when have we consented to the establish- 
ment of such a court among us as the bill provides for 
—the appointment of judges, secretary, marshals, &c., 
by the President and Senate? Where is the treaty 
which expresses a desire on our part to become citizens 
of the United States? When and where have we con- 
ceded the right to make us such? We have been 
taught by the experience of the past and the observa- 
tion of the present that our only safety is in remain- 
ing by ourselves, and maintaining intact our homo- 
feneousness. We will venture the prediction that if 
you establish over us such a government as the bill 
provides for, your officers would not get into our Terri- 
tory before it would be overrun by squatters, who 
would look to them for protection. Indeed, they would 
regard their very appointment as an invitation to go, 
and if Congress were to place an army around our ter- 
ritorial borders they could not be kept back. We have 
been taught in too many instances, not to be admon- 
ished by the lesson that where squatters have the 
slightest pretext to take possession of Indian lands 
they do it, and they would take shelter under your 
territorial bill and the officers appointed by it. Do you 
ask, senators, what the result would be? Every trouble 
between an Indian and a white man would be laid to 
the fault of the Indian. Nothing would please the 
squatters and their confederates better than to get up 
difficulties, and they would get them up. A cruel, re- 
lentless, and exterminating war would follow. They 
would glory in such a war; nothing would please them 
better than for an Indian to kill a white man, even in 
self-defense. Men will wade through blood for a 
throne, and they will wade through it for territory. 
If gentlemen want trouble, we do not see but their 
wish would be gratified by opening the gateway to our 
possessions. and turning the squatter and speculator 
loose upon us. However much our people might seek 
to avoid difficulty, their object and interest would be to 
provoke it. We think we hazard nothing in saying 
that in nizeteen out of twenty cases of hostility be- 
tween the Indians and whites, it was engendered by 
the class of persons we have just described, or the 
failure of the government to keep its treaty stipula- 
tions. The civilized Indian when wronged, or when he 
thinks he is wronged, is conscious he is without civil 
redress, and hence seeks for compensation in reprisals, 
not having yet learned better. The soldier follows his 
retreating steps, and the question between them re- 
solves itself into one of life or death. But it is not 
our purpose to discuss this point. We present it only 
as an illustration. We want to say that the white man 
whom it is proposed to send in among us, will have no 
desire for our perpetuation or prosperity, and in the 
nature of things ill-feeling would be engendered be- 
tween them and us. Our whole civil fabric being 
overthrown, and a new government policy inaugu- 
rated, and new officers of another race placed over us, 
with our institutions and altars lying in ruin around 
us, it will not and cannot be for the interest, welfare, 
or honor of either race to harmonize with the other. 
Why, then, is the proposed change urged? Can you 
manage the uncivilized Indian any better in a terri- 
torial government than you can now? No. Who, then, 
is sought to be brought under the control of this pro- 
posed territorial government? The civilized Indians, 
and they only. What are they doing that makes 
them either troublesome, expensive, or dangerous to 
your government? They do not ask Congress to clothe 
them or feed them; only to pay them what the govern- 


APPENDIX 


ment owes them for their lands. They are not making 
war upon the white race or any other, but living qui- 
etly in the home which your government guaranteed 
“to them and to their descendants forever,” and pledged — 
its most sacred faith in writing, that ‘‘no State or ter- 
ritorial line should ever be extended around it or over | 
it.” Would not both parties be injured by violating 
this pledge and making the proposed change? The 
reasoning which is applied to the uncivilized Indians, 
who cannot be brought under its control or influence, 
is applied to the civilized Indians where it is wholly 
inapplicable. We defy our assailants to produce one 
sound argument to show that either the government 
or the Indian nations would be benefited by the estab- 
lishment of the proposed territorial government. It 
would not contribute to peace, it would not add to the — 
prosperity or wealth of either, but would entail the 
territorial expenses on the United States, whereas the 
local Indian governments do not cost them a dollar, 
Moreover, it would not advance the cause of humanity 


or Christian philanthropy; for we imagine it will not — 


be insisted that the class of men who would get in ~ 
w~mong us would take any interest in- matters of that 
kind; and to bring these suggestions to a close, we 
now affirm, from the deepest convictions of our hearts, 


and before you and the world, that the ‘new Indian nf 
as it is called, means the seizure of our lands 


policy,” 
and the adoption of any and every measure which it is 
thought will contribute to the consummation of these 
ends; and it means nothing less than this. 

The object to be attained 
plainly in the bill introduced by Senator Rice than it 
has ever been before. 


entitled as any other acre they own; but as this ques- 
tion may probably be amicably settled between them 
and the government, it is not necessary to discuss it © 
here. 
porate with all adequate powers,” and “to grant aid to 
all such bodies corporate.” Here opens the railroad 


The first section of that bill — 
would deprive the various Indian nations of several 
million acres of land to which they are as religiously _ 


feature of the measure; here is opened the door for ~ 


1 
railroad companies and speculators to come in er 


- 


i 


they desire, by offering sufficient temptations; and we 
confess to you, senators, that we tremble for the safety 


their money and obtain, if possible, such charters as 


of our people at their approach. What “aid” is it con- — 


templated shall be granted by the council to bodies 
corporate? It is provided that the government shall 


pay the expenses of the council; and they will be desti- 


tute of the power of bestowing any money aid. What 
aid, then, can it bestow? The answer is plain. The 


railroad men and the speculators are looking to our — 


lands, and if they cannot obtain them in any other 
way, they hope to possess themselves of them through 
the medium of the legislative council. 
will be able to induce that body to grant them, and © 


: 


They hope they ~ 


is exhibited far more 


We have shown that the bill confers powers upon 
the proposed legislative council ‘‘to create bodies cor- 


G 


‘. 


this, it looks to us, is the primary object they have in 


view. Certainly such will be the effect of the legis- vy 


lations 


All of which is hopefully and respectfully submitted. — 


LEWIS DOWNING, { 


Principal Chief Cherokee Nation. — 


SAM’L SMITH, rf 

ARCHIE SCRAPER, 

J. P. DAVIS, * 

Cc. N. VANN, > 

WwW. P. ADAIR, ( 
Cherokee Delegation. — 


VW 
tig 
iH 


G. W. STIDHAM, : 


Ss. W. PERRYMAN, a 
Creek Delegates. — 

P. PP. PITCHLYNN yg 
Choctaw Delegate. — 


—Senate Mis. Doc. No. 1438, 41st Congress, 2d Session. 


APPENDIX XXXVI—7. 


v3 
EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH OF WILLIAM PENN > 
ADATR, 


Another method whereby our civilized people can be > 
advanced in civilization and our less favored ones can — 
be led in that direction is by such patriotic institutions 
as this International Fair, which its patrons have very 
properly styled “‘A school of instruction.” Here all 


| 


I 


APPENDIX 


classes of our people, the civilized, the semi-civilized 
and the nomadic have an opportunity of coming to- 
gether once a year, as friends, and to interchange ideas 
of improvement in all the varied pursuits of civiliza- 
tion. Here we see men and women from all grades of 
our people as representatives from all parts of the 
country with their works and the results and fruits of 
their labor in the cultivation of the soil, the arts and 
sciences of the sewing needle and the loom and the 
machine skcp. Here also we see our men and women 
representing the Educational interests of the whole 
country and among them we see graduates from the 
finest colleges in the United States as also graduated 
professional men, such as attorneys at law, and doctors 
of medicine, also we see the greatest benefactor of all 
the “bone and sinew” of the country, the Farmer, with 
his agricultural products and live stock of all kinds, 
his poultry and his numerous grains, “the staff of life,” 
we see also the cotton planter and the common laborer 
and all seem to be one people and we are gratified to 
know that all of these various representatives of the 
numerous and best interests of our people belong to 
our Indian race and are all as brothers and sisters. 
We also by invitation have among us on this occasion 
many of our white friends, ladies and gentlemen from 
our adjoining states, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and 
Texas and we are happy to welcome them as friends. 


Also by invitation we are honored by the presence of | 


distinguished members of the Senate and House of 
Representatives of the United States who constitute 
the special Congressional Committee to consider the 
proposition of transferring the Indians to the War 
Department, and we are happy to receive them as our 
friends and trust that in view of the hopeful and 
cheerful condition in which they have found us under 
the management of the Civil Department of the United 
States that there be no change made in our present 
condition and relations with the Government and 
especially that we be permitted to remain under the 
management of the Civil Department. Also, we see 
the different apartments of the Fair grounds and 
buildings arranged and equipped with admirable taste 
and in their appropriate places; we find for exhibition 
all kinds of the best quality of agricultural products 
and implements, productions of the machine shop, the 
needle, and sewing machine, and the loom, with many 
productions of the mechanic arts. In the live stock 
department we see exhibits of horses, cattle, sheep, 
hogs, etc., that are as fine as any grown in the neigh- 
boring states. All of these things are glorious evi- 
dences of the patriotism, civilization, prosperity, unity 
and friendship of our Indian people among themselves 
and of the cordial relations existing between them and 
the Government and citizens of the United States. 
Every Indian in this country should rejoice at such a 
happy state of affairs and be proud of this Interna- 
tional Fair because of its internationality for such 
usefulness, and I trust every man and every woman In 
our entire country will encourage it and that not only 
the civilized Indians but also our nomadic brethren of 
the Plains and mountains will be encouraged to attend 
it and participate in it so that they may learn and 
follow the various branches of civilization illustrated 
and represented in it. Some of our brethren of the 
Plains have heretofore attended this Fair with good 
results and we trust that no pains will be spared 
hereafter to induce them to continue their attendance 
so they, like our leading Nations, may be blessed with 
all the comforts and powers of enlightened people and 
thereby be able to unite with the civilized Nations in 
holding and defending our common country.—Extract 
from the Address of William Penn Adair at the Inter- 
national Fair, Chronicles of Oklahoma, September, 
1926, Vol. IV, No. 3, pp. 272-74. 


APPENDIX XXXVI—S. 


PIONEERING COAL MINING INDUSTRY IN 
OKLAHOMA. 


By Colonel James J. McAlester, 


When I left the Confederate Army, at the close of 
the war in 1865, I went to Fort Smith to attend school. 
While I was there, Capt. Oliver Weldon gave me a 
memorandum book which had been kept by a geolo- 
gist, who had been a member of a Government explor- 


879 


ing party which had passed through the Indian Terri- 
tory many years before. The preliminary survey of 
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway was made in 
1869. I was then employed as a clerk in the store of 
Harlan & Rooks, at Stonewall. This firm had several 
stores and trading establishments scattered over the 
Indian Territory. When I heard of the proposed rail- 
road construction, I determined to go into business 
for myself. I still had in my possession the geologist’s 
notebook. Although it was somewhat discolored by 
age, the writing was still legible. In it was recorded 
the fact that the best coal was found in the immediate 
vicinity of ‘the Cross Roads,’ which was the place 
where the Texas Road (i. e., the wagon trail followed 
by emigrants en route to Texas, by way of Springfield, 
Missouri, and Fort Gibson, to Preston and Dallas, 
Texas) was crossed by the California Trail, from Fort 
Smith to Albuquerque. As the railway line was fol- 
lowing the Texas Road very closely, I determined to 
select a location at “the Cross Roads.” This crossing 
was where the Sixth Ward Schoolhouse in McAlester 
now stands, and was near the center of what is now 
Known as the McAlester Coal Field. 

Having selected a location, I went to Fort Smith, 
where I laid the whole proposition before Mr. J. T. 
Hannaford, then a prominent merchant of that place. 
We formed a partnership and, as licensed traders, 
opened the store at “the Cross Roads.” We made 
money from the first. The road from the North to 
Texas was lined with wagons every day, and travel 
from Fort Smith to Forts Arbuckle and Sill was also 
heavy. All these travelers had to have provisions; all 
had money and of course our business prospered. We 
remained in partnership for about a year and our 
profits at that time were about $5,000.00. I finally 
bought my partner out, married a Chickasaw girl and 
became a citizen. 

Before the railway was built there was no demand 
for coal and of course none was mined. Some was 
dug out occasionally and used instead of wood, but 
very little. In 1872 the railway line was completed to 
McAlester, as ‘‘the Cross Roads” has since been known. 
When the railway reached that point, we began min- 
ing operations in a small way, though we were han- 
dicapped by many and trying dlfficulties. For two 
years, all the coal was mined from veins near the sur- 
face by the stripping process. The Osage Coal & 
Mining Company, which was organized when the rail- 
way was first built, engaged in developing deeper 
veins, and in 1875, this company built a switch, or 
spur track, out from the main line to its mine three 
miles distant. This work was done hurriedly, as was 
all of the mining work of those times. The company 
at that time had a contract with the National Agent, 
whereby it was permitted to do anything to facilitate 
the operations in getting coal out of the ground. For 
this privilege it paid a royalty of one cent per ton to 
the Nation, the National Agent claiming the coal 
deposits to be the property of the Choctaw Nation. 
Meanwhile, individual citizens of the Nation claimed 
this royalty as their own. This resulted in litigation 
in which the individual citizens were successful. 

The Choctaw national authorities were not satisfied 
with the decision in favor of the individual citizens, 
however. Coleman Cole, who was then principal chief 
of the Choctaw Nation, determined to put Robert 
Ream, William Pusley, Tandy C. Walker and myself 
out of the way and accordingly ordered his “Light 
Horse” (a body of tribal militia) to assemble and pro- 
ceed to the mouth of Brush Creek. There Governor 
Cole stopped at the home of James Williams and sent 
his troops after the four of us with orders that we 
should be summarily executed. Pusley, Ream and 
myself were arrested, but I succeeded in getting word 
to Walker and he escaped. After our arrest, Governor 
Cole caused a piece of ground to be cleared off, re- 
marking that we were to be shot on bare ground and 
that not a drop of my blood should stain a blade of 
grass. However, before the date set for the execu- 
tion, we succeeded in making our escape from the 
troops. These troops, as before stated, were desig- 
nated as “Light Horse,” and were under the command 
of Captain White, a white man, who was a very fine 
gentleman and a member of the Masonic Lodge, and 
who was opposed to the needless shedding of blood of 
his own people. 


880 


Governor Cole was very much opposed to the min- 
ing operations and it was on account of my activity 
in that line that he desired to have me put out of the 
way and thus discourage the mining industry and put 
a stop to mining altogether. However, when the Choc- 
taw people came to realize what my policies were and 
what the royalties meant in the way of added support 
for their schools, they ceased to oppose me. I then 
effected a compromise, whereby the Choctaw Nation 
and the individual citizen who held the land were to 
share alike in the distribution of the royalties, each 
receiving one-half, after which the contracts received 
the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. 


APPENDIX XXXVII—1. 
THE RACE IN RAILROAD BUILDING. 


There has been a nice little race, for some weeks, 
between the Missouri, Kansas and Texas and the Mis- 
souri River, Fort Scott and Gulf (Kansas and Neosho 
Valley) roads. In energy, enterprise, and number of 
miles built, the former road beats the latter. But the 
latter will probably reach the State line a short time 
in advance. The cars now run to Columbus, 12 miles 
from Baxter Springs, 2 miles from the state line. 

The grading to Baxter will be finished this week. 
About 4 miles of iron are now laid below Columbus, 
and the road will be completed to the town (Baxter) 
by Thursday, next week. This road will have built 
20 miles of road, including nearly all the grading, 
tieing, bridge and culvert building, as well as laying 
of tracks, in 30 days. They have taken a large force 
from the Galveston Railroad to complete the road 
through to the state line. This force is now being 
re-transferred. The track layers, with their boarding 
ears and complete outfit, will soon commence laying 
track below Garnett, building about 20 miles of road 
per month. It is expected that the Galveston Road 
will be through to Indian Territory by October, and 
by November, certain. 

The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad will be 
through in a few weeks, making by fall 3 lines of 
road on the southern border (of Kan.) ready for the 
race through the Indian Territory. 

The Missouri River, Fort Scott, and Gulf railway 
will lay their track about two and one half miles 
below Baxter Springs, where side tracks, and facilities 
for shipment of cattle from Texas and Indian Ter- 
ritory, will be afforded. If Congress will promptly 
grant right of way, the Galveston road will be com- 
pleted to Red River in a year and a half, where it will 
meet the Northern Texas Railroad, thus affording a 
through line to Galveston in about 18 months, at 
least five years sooner than the most enthusiastic of 
us supposed possible.-—Quoted from the Lawrence 
(Kansas) Journal of April 19, 1870, by the U. S. Rail- 
road and Mining Register, May 14, p. 2. 


APPENDIX XXXVII—2. 
THE FIRST RAILWAY IN OKLAHOMA 
By A. W. Robb 


I was connected with the road from the time it 
commenced doing business in the Indian Territory, in 
April, 1871, until it reached the Arkansas River. The 
road at that time had its terminal station two miles 
south of Vinita. Robert S. Stevens, of New York, was 
general manager; O. B. Gunn, of Kansas City, was 
chief engineer, and John Scullin, of St. Louis, laid the 


rails. The grading was done by various contracting 
parties. The stations, depots, etc., were built by 
George Melville. S. G. Eddy was division superin- 
tendent. 


_ The business of the road was at first very light, but 
it increased as the construction was pushed farther 
south. The first station after leaving Vinita was at 
Chouteau, where the road received its first shipment 
of cattle in the Indian Territory. From that point on 
south the cattle shipments increased very rapidly. 
The next stop was at Gibson Station, where the first 
shipment of cotton was received. By this time the 
business had grown quite large, consisting of military 
supplies for Forts Gibson and Sill and general mer- 
chandise for many parties. 

The road opened its station for business at Musko- 
gee about three-fourths of a mile north of the pres- 


“4 


APPENDIX 


ent station, on the first day of January, 1872. The 
location of the depot was changed, on account of the 
grade, about the first of April following, to the present 
site. From Muskogee south the business of the road 
increased rapidly, though I do not know much about it 
personally. 


APPENDIX XXXVII—3. 


CONSTRUCTING THE “KATY” ACROSS THE CHOC- 
TAW COUNTRY 


By Rev. Dr. J. S. Murrow 


When I first came to this Territory, if anyone had 
told me that I would live long enough to see a rail- 
road built through this country, my reply would have 
been, “If the good Lord will let me live as long as 
Methuselah, that might be the case.” Well, I am not 
yet as old as Methuselah, and yet I see many, many 
railroads and big cities and towns and the country 
full of white people and comparatively few Indians. 

In 1870, it was the common talk among the Indians 
that two railroads were being built down from Mis- 
souri, and which ever one should strike the Indian 
Territory line first, would build its road through the 
Territory and into Texas. The Indians did not like 
this, They were very much afraid of the coming of 
the white people, as indeed they had great cause to be. 

The “coming of the railroad’ was the subject of 
conversation at many of their gatherings. I remember 
hearing one old full-blood haranguing a crowd of his 
people on this subject once. He made a forcible talk, 
bringing out many good reasons to prove that the 
railroad would be a detriment. Finally, he wound up 
with the following ‘clincher’: 

_“I have ridden on those railroads east of the Mis- 
sissippi. They have little houses on wheels—whole 
strings of them. One string can carry several hundred 
people. Those little houses can be shut up and the 
doors locked. If we allow that railroad to come, the 
white men will give a picnic some time by the side of 
their iron road and will invite all the full-bloods to 
attend. They will get the men to play ball, off a piece. 
Then they will get our women to go into the little 
houses on wheels and will lock them up and run off 
with them into Texas or Missouri. Then what will we 
do for women?” 

But the railroad came all the same. I well remem- 
ber when it reached Atoka, in July, 1872. Mr. J. D. 
Davis and Mrs. E. A. Flack owned all of the land about 
the place. The officers of the road desired to build a 
depot at Atoka. They wanted to double the amount of 
land allowed them by law for their side-tracks. They 
accordingly asked Mr. Davis and Mrs. Flack to meet 
them in conference concerning the matter. Mrs. Flack 
was a fine old Indian woman. When Messrs. Stevens, 
Scullin and the chief engineer (Maj. O. B. Gunn) made 
known their wishes, Mrs. Flack asked many questions, 
all of which were satisfactorily answered. Finally, 
she said: 

: v¥ou will build us a nice depot house out of lum- 
er?” 

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied. 

“You must paint it white,’ she continued. 

“Well, we do not know about that: we do not usually 
paint our depots white,’ was the response, to which 
she immediately rejoined: 

“Oh, you must paint it white; my husband was a 
white man and I like white houses.” 

The road brought many blessings. We missionaries 
could afford to buy two or three calico dresses each 
year for our good wives, where we could afford but 
one each year before. The railroad brought many 
evils also—a class of tramps and adventurers, came 
with and after the road was built, that for several 
years constituted a demoralizing element. 

Just as the full-blood Indians predicted, the coming 
of the railroad opened up to the whites a knowledge 
of the wonderful resources of their country and was 
soon followed by the demand to “remove the restric- 
tions.” This demand has grown more persistent and 
imperious each year since, and now, poor Lo has in 
many instances nothing before him in this world but 
pauperism and the grave. 

I well remember many interesting incidents con- 
nected with the coming of the “Katy.” In 1872 or 


REV. DR. J. 8S. MURROW, 
Missionary among the Indians, 1857 to 1926 


LIBRARY | 
ce 


iE 
UNIVERSITY GF ILLINOIS 


—_ 


APPENDIX 


1873, the management of the railroad gave a free 
excursion to the Choctaws. A great train-load of them 
were taken from Caddo, Atoka, McAlester and other 
points, to Parsons, Kansas, and to Sedalia and Boone- 
ville, Missouri. Those cities welcomed the excursion- 
ists and made them very happy. Speeches were made 
by several of the Indian men. At Booneville, old Mr. 
Forbis Le Flore (long prominent in the public affairs 
of the Choctaw Nation) made a great hit and was 
loudly applauded. He said that the white people 
wanted the Indians’ land when the whites already had 
more than they were using. He then commented 
upon the fact that the white people regarded the 
Indians as uncivilized and superstitious, yet, when he 
was in a bank, in Sedalia, that very day, he had no- 
ticed a horseshoe naifed up over the door. He had 
inquired what it meant and the banker had told him 
Bath it was “to bring good luck and keep the witches 
fa) ye 

At first the railroad charged seven cents per mile, 
passenger fare, but this was later reduced to five cents 
per mile, at which figure the fare remained until a 
few years before statehood, when it was reduced to 
three cents per mile. Some of the early conductors 
were very unaccommodating. I was once put off six 
miles south of Perryville (now Chambers) and had to 
walk that distance up the track under a broiling, 
noonday, summer sun, although I begged to be allowed 
to pay sixty cents more and get off at Perryville. 
However, most of the early conductors were very 
nice men. I learned to think a great deal of W. H. 
Maxwell, John Hill, Chick Warner, Ben Brown and 
others. 

The “Katy” is a great railroad and always has 
been. When it was first built, Mr. Bob Stevens, who 
had superintended its construction, said that he had 
performed a railroad construction feat unapproached 
in the history of railroad building, namely, that he 


had built the M., K. & T. road through a tunnel, two- 


hundred and fifty miles long—meaning, of course, that 
it passed for that distance through the Indian Terri- 
tory, which he regarded as unproductive of railroad 
revenues. But, bless your soul, the old Indian Terri- 
tory has been and still is one of the most profitable 
regions tributary to the lines of the M., K. & T. railway 
system. It is doubtful if the road has found any more 
profitable business in any state penetrated by its 
trunk or feeder lines than it has in Oklahoma, 

The equipment of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
Railway of today is, of course, far superior to that 
which was used in the early days. Today it has the 
finest coaches that can be built and the road-bed of 
the “Katy” is reputed to be the best in the Southwest. 
In olden days, a trip over the ‘Katy’ was almost a 
sure cure for dyspepsia, but now it is a pleasure to 
take a trip on its elegant trains over its splendid 
roadbed. 


APPENDIX XXXVII—4. 
SURVEY ACROSS THE PLAINS. 


From St. Louis to Vinita, 364 miles, and on the 
Creek lands in the Indian Territory, the road being 
due southwest; then it bears westwardly near the 
385th parallel, and much of the way along the beautiful 
valley of the Canadian River on the Bernardino Meri- 
dian to Southern California, thence northward to San 
Francisco and south to San Diego. The entire distance 
from here to San Francisco by this route will not fall 
short of 3,000 miles, and to San Diego about 2,750 
miles. The road will cross the Arkansas near the 
mouth of the Red Fork of that stream, thence up the 
Canadian, reaching the Rio Grande about 20 miles 
south of Albuquerque, thence on or near Fort Win- 
gate, striking the Little Colorado near the mouth of 
the Rio Puerco. From there it will take the divide 
between San Juan and Rio Gila. It will cross the Rio 
Colorado near Fort Mojave, thence west to the sum- 
mit of the Sierra Nevada, and from there north-north- 
west to San Francisco. 

The country through which it will pass is admirably 
adapted to the construction of a first class railroad at 
moderate expense. Nearly the entire route abounds in 
mineral resources and is also unsurpassed in agricul- 
tural wealth. The climate is most salubrious and but 
little danger need be ever apprehended by snow 
blockades on this route. 


Okla—56 


881 


APPENDIX XXXVII—5. 
UNNEIGHBORLY RAILROADS 


Trains are now running on this railroad from St. 
Louis to Vinita, Indian Territory, 365 miles north- 
west of St. Louis, there connecting with the Mis- 
souri, Kansas and Texas Railway. Stages run in 
connection to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Sherman, 
Texas. The fares have been reduced, are now only 
$8.50 to Vinita, $16.50 to Ft. Gibson, $20.00 to Fort 
Smith and $40.00 to Sherman. These rates are in con- 
sequence of a conflict with Missouri, Kansas and 
Texas Company, with regard to the junction and de- 
pot, which the Republican of the 26th ult. reports as 
follows: 

“The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Company was the 
first to lay the track past the supposed junction of 
the two roads, and built a depot at Big Cabin Creek 
at a point where the stakes indicated the crossing of 
the Atlantic and Pacific. The company has secured 
the control of the lands in the vicinity. But the At- 
lantic and Pacific Company subsequently selected 
their point for crossing two miles above, and named 
it Vinita. It was so named by Col. Elias C. Boudinot, 
who secured the location of a headright about the 
new town, according to Cherokee custom. 

“In September last the Atlantic and Pacific Com- 
pany received a peremptory order through its en- 
gineer, Mr. Kellet, from the engineer of the Missouri, 


* Kansas and Texas, forbidding’ it to lay a track across 


their road, claiming they had no right to cross. But 
Mr. Kellet went on regardless of this order, and put 
down the track, which was subsequently torn up by 
the rival company, which also laid side tracks outside 
the main track, with a view to increasing the ob- 
stacles in the way. The Atlantic and Pacific relaid 
their track and put down frogs, since which time the 
track has not been disturbed. It seems that then the 
two companies endeavored to effect a compromise by 
entering into an agreement thought to be satisfactory. 
They agreed upon rates of freight and fare for pas- 
sengers, the price to be the same, $18.50 over both 
roads from St. Louis to the junction at Vinita, the 
Atlantic and Pacific being 36 miles shorter. The Mis- 
souri, Kansas and Texas was to fix its local rates 
from the Junction through the territory to Gibson 
and Texas for passengers and freight as for both 
roads. The Atlantic and Pacific built a depot at 
Vinita, with a view to joint occupancy, but a fresh 
contention arose in regard to location, the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas wanting it located farther west. 
The Atlantic and Pacific declined to move its depot 
and the agreement was broken up, and the rivalry 
stirred up stronger than before. The Atlantic and 
Pacific put their fare down for passengers to $8.50 
from St. Louis to Vinita, and in retaliation the Mis- 
souri, Kansas and Texas’ trains refused to stop and 
take on passengers or freight and passed on to the 
depot at Big Cabin Creek. Passengers had to lie over 
and were greatly incommoded. A Methodist minister 
and two ladies had to stay over all night on the 
prairie. The Atlantic and Pacific then organized a line 
of stages to convey passengers between Vinita and 
Big Cabin Creek, so that its passengers could reach 
the latter place an hour and a half before the pas- 
sage of the train going south. 

The former company has also organized a trans- 
portation company to transport freight overland to 
Fort Gibson, Fort Smith and other points south. It 
transports at a cheaper rate than the railroad at the 
same points. Passengers coming north are not allowed 
to have baggage checked to Vinita for the Atlantic 
and Pacific.” 


The Atlantic & Pacific At The Ciose of 1871. 


From a long article in the “St. Louis Republican” 
describing the newer part of this road and the recent 
excursion of the government commissioner to exam- 
ine and report upon the 50 miles completed this year 
between Neosho, Mo., and Vinita, Indian Territory, 
we select the following description of the new section, 
by the completion of which the company is entitled 
to a considerable grant of lands: 

From Neosho this inspection of the newly completed 
division commenced. The commissioners took a posi- 
tion at the rear of the rear car, and on reaching a 
bridge or other structure a stoppage took place for 


882 


a critical examination. The track followed down the 
valley of Lost Creek into the Nation. 

Seneca is passed on the right, and is the last town 
passed in Missouri, it being on the Indian frontier. 

From the State line the party passed through the 
country occupied by the Wyandottes and Senecas as 
far as the Grand River. The tribes mentioned own 
160,000 acres and number about 200. The other small 
tribes holding separate territories this side the Grand 
River are the Shawnee, Peorias, Quapaws, etc. The 
major portion of the Delawares are identified with 
the Cherokees. A large tract of land, after passing the 
first farm, belongs to Audrian, a Frenchman. 

The bridge over the Grand River (the Neosho) and 
Lost Creek. Some time was spent here examining this 
fine structure. The patent is “Port’s iron combina- 
tion.” The bridge is 650 feet long, having four spans 
each 158 feet in length. The piers are of the firmest 
kind, constructed with stone ferried down on flat 
boats from a quarry a short distance above, and rise 
35 feet above the water. The width of the bridge is 
18 feet. The cost was about $60,000. It was built from 
the foundations in less than 60 days. The workman- 
ship doubtless complies with every requirement of the 
law. 

The Cherokee Nation is entered on the other side 
at Prairie City. The improvements were made by 
George Rogers, but he being an adherent of Col. 
Boudinot, the Cherokees have denied his right to 
citizenship. His nativity is not disputed as he is a 
son of John Rogers, a celebrated chief of the Chero- 
kees. 

Samuel Stanton, the Stock Agent of the railroad 
company, presented himself here. Some very capa- 
cious stock yards have been erected near this point 
under his supervision, as this is the great center of 
the cattle transportation. 

Near here the old Texas trail passes from Fort Scott 
to Gibson, and runs thence to San Antonio. It was 
laid out as a military road some 50 years ago, and has 
since become the great cattle trail. It passes four 
miles west of Prairie City. Mr. Stanton has made ar- 
rangements for loading 2,000 head a day with ten 
men. In the Prairie City Stock Yards there are 45 
chutes, and yard aecommodations for five thousand 
head of cattle. About ten thousand head were shipped 
east from here in October. One day the agent loaded 
seven trains (with) an average of 250 head to a train. 

The next Indian station is “Oscuma Meonnry” (Good 
water). Close by is a fine white sulphur spring yielding 
largely a strong, clear, cold fluid. The next station six 
miles west is called Afton, and then Albia, when we 
arrived at Vinita, 364 miles from St. Louis, passing 
it at the rate of 20 miles an hour to the end of the 
track two miles beyond. Colonel Boudinot owns 2,000 
acres of land around the depot, having made the first 
improvements which, according to the Cherokee laws, 
entitles him to hold possession, before the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas Railway Company laid down their 
track. By permission of Colonel Boudinot a stone 
store has been built by Johnson Thomsen, a Cherokee, 
and another native named Trott, is putting up a livery 
stable. 

The misunderstanding still exists in all its vigor 
between the two roads, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
trains refusing to stop at Vinita and let off passengers 
and freight destined for the Atlantic and Pacific road. 
But the law requires them to come to a full stop 
within 1,000 feet from a station before passing it, and 
passengers are swift to avail themselves of the op- 
portunity. 

There yet remain about 17,000 miles of road to be 
completed to San Francisco. The surveying parties 
under Jacob Blickensderfer, Engineer-in-chief, will 
complete their work in December, so as to file the 
report in the Interior Department by the middle of 
the month. Leaving Vinita, the route crossed Red 
Fork of the Arkansas, and follows up to the mouth 
of Kingfisher Creek, thence crosses to the Canadian, 
and following up that stream to Fort Bascom, a place 
west of the Staked Plains, having crossed its northern 
limit. The route goes near Anton Chico, on the Pecos 
River, a tributary of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. 
This is quite a Mexican settlement of 1,000 people 
about 750 miles from the State line. ... 

When the_main road of the Atlantic and Pacific 
strikes the Canadian, it will meet the Brong road or 
Prong, coming up from Fort Smith, having a length 
of 300 miles. It is required in the charter of the 


™ 4 


APPENDIX 


Atlantic and Pacific to build this branch. Four parties 
are out surveying that route. The surveys will be 
finished during the month. A railroad coming from 
the east is finished from Little Rock to Fort Smith, 
which will connect with the line to the Pacific, keep- 
ing up the Arkansas to the Canadian, then up the 
stream to the intersection with the main trunk from 
St. Louis. 

The land sales of the Atlantic and Pacific road 
amount to from $500,000 to $600,000 annually. The 
company have alternate sections extending ten miles 
on each side of the track in the state and twenty 
miles each side in the Territory. The Government 
can either make a purchase of these lands from the 
Indians, or pass the bill through Congress giving 
each 160 acres of land, and purchase the balance at 
a nominal price, and with the proceeds create a fund 
for education—as advocated by Boudinot. 

The railroad officials say that the intelligent people 
of the Territory favor this plan. The railroad com- 
pany have now 1,400,000 acres in Missouri, distributed 
from Phelps County west, through Pulaski, Webster. 
Greene, Lawrence, Newton and Jasper counties. These 
lands are held for sale at from $2 to $15 per acre. 
They embrace some of the richest lands in the state, 
Considerable immigration is flowing in, principally 
from the northern states. 


APPENDIX XXXVII—6. 7 
J. H. BEADLE’S STORY OF THE NEW RAILWAY. 


The “growing season” seemed fairly set in Southern 
Kansas, fast tinging the prairies with a rich shade 
of green, and farmers everywhere were busy with the 
spring crops. We stopped for twenty-four hours at 
Parsons, the terminus of the Sedalia Division of the 

K. & T., and, we are positively informed, ‘“‘the 
future metropolis of Southern Kansas,” “railroad 
center,” etc. For particulars see land circulars and 
the columns of the Parsons ‘‘Sun.” We ran thence down 
the M. K. & T., passed Chetopa just at dark, and by © 
midnight were ninety miles from the border at the 
new town of Muscogee, then the terminus of the 
passenger division, though the road was completed 
to the Canadian River. 

I opened my eyes the next morning upon a long, 
straggling, miserable railroad town, the exact image 
of a Union Pacific “city,” in the last stages of pe 
Some two hundred yards from the railroad a single 
street extended for nearly a quarter of a mile; the 
buildings were rude shanties, frame and canvas tents 
and log cabins, open to the wind, which blew a hurri- 
cane for the thirty-six hours I was there. If Mr. Lo, 
“the poor Indian,” does in fact “see God in the clouds 
and hear him in the wind,’ as the poet tells us, he 
has a simple and benign creed which gives him an 
audible and ever-present deity in this country, for 
the wind is constant and of a character to prevent 
forgetfulness: i. oe ee 

We ate in the “Pioneer boarding car,’ and slept in 
another car attached; five of them being placed on a 
side track, anchored down and converted into a pretty 
good hotel. Here and about the depot were the citizens 
employed on the road. Of the town proper, the ma- 
jority of the citizens were negroes, with them a few 
whites of doubtful ‘rep’ and perhaps a dozen Indians. 
The negroes were formerly slaves to the Indians, but 
slavery here was never severe, and they are little 
more their own masters than they were before. 
They earned a precarious subsistence, the women by 
washing and the men by teaming and chopping, and 
all were sunk deep, deep in poverty and ignorance. 
. . . . Here, as at Vinita, I saw no farms, no signs 
of cultivation. The Indians live off the railroad, in 
the timber and along the streams. .... Around 
the town, far as the eye can reach, extend fertile 
prairies of rich green, rivaling Ohio meadows in May, 
while five miles northeast a heavy line of timber 
marks the course of the Arkansas. 

Muscogee, or, if spelled as pronounced, Mooskokee, 
is the aboriginal name for the tribe we call the 
Creeks, and, having decided to thoroughly inspect 
these Indian sovereignties, and their relations with 
the General Government, we begin with these. 

“Brad. Collins is on a big spree, ain’t he?” 

“You bet he’s chargin’.’”’ 

“Killed anybody yet?” 


“No, only had one fuss. Him and two other Chero- 


a 


Perr, 


APPENDIX 


kees went into the car last night with cocked six- 
shooters and scared some eastern fellers darned near 
to death.” 

“Mind the time he shot that ar marshall?” 

“T reckon! Killed him right in front of this car. 
Shot him twice afore. Fetched him dead that time. 
Then came in next day and give himself up. Tuck him 
down to Fort Smith and turned him loose in a little 
while. Lord, that court don’t amount to nothin’.” 

“Marshal’s got a good thing, though.” 

“T see you; best place to make money in the United 
States. These deputies are the biggest rascals in the 
country. That court is a disgrace to the American 
people and ’ll ruin us here yet.” 

Such was a small part of the conversation we heard 
our second morning at the table of the dining-car in 
Muscogee. It was anything but encouraging to a man 
of peaceful proclivities. A few days after I had my 
first view of this somewhat notorious Bradley Collins. 
I was sitting in the tent of an old Cherokee woman 
in Muscogee, listening to her account of the expulsion 
from the “old Nation in Geawgey,’” when shots were 
heard not far off and an athletic, rosy-featured young 
man came running by the tent with a pistol in his 
hand. The old woman merely said, ‘‘Bradley’s got 
his shooter; there’s a fuss some’ers,” and went out for 
a look. It proved to be nothing but some freedmen 
practicing on a stray hog, a wanderer from the Creek 


farms, which they brought down after a dozen shots! - 


Collins walked back with a marked air of disappoint- 
ment, muttering: “If I couldn’t hit a hog first shot, 
Vd throw away my pistol’: and the old lady enter- 
tained me by his story which has since been verified 
by others. He is nearly white, an outcast from the 
Cherokee Nation, a smuggler of whiskey, a desperado 
and a dead shot. It is said that he has been known 
to throw a pistol in the air, causing it to make a 
half dozen turns, catch it as it fell, bring it instantly 
to a level and hit an apple at thirty paces. He is 
reported to be “quick on the trigger” that all the 
other “shootists”. in the country have an awe of him. 
He is known to have killed three men and was then 
under bond of one thousand dollars to appear at the 
May term of the Federal Court in Fort Smith, for 
shooting at a United States marshal with intent to 
kill. Many excuse him in the case where he actually 
killed a marshal, as it was a private quarrel, in which 
both had sworn to “shoot on sight.’’ Associated with 
him were a dozen or more young “White Cherokees,” 
who were suspected of being robbers, and known to 
be drunkards and gamblers. A dozen such men can 
do the cause of Cherokee independence and nation- 
ality more harm than all of the Rosses and Downings 
and their able compeers can do it good. 

But we must take all we hear on the railroad with 
this important qualification. It is the interest and 
policy of these railroads to belittle the Cherokee gov- 
ernment, and make its officers appear as inefficient, 
and its few criminals as desperate and dangerous as 
possible. And the roads themselves have added a 
vast amount of evidence in favor of their indictments 
against the Indian governments. The records are 
simply horrible. During the few weeks that the ter- 
minus and stage officers were at Muscogee and Gib- 
son, sixteen murders were committed at that two 
places, and, in a very short time, five more were killed 
at the next terminus. One man was shot all to pieces 
just in front of the dining-car at Muscogee, and an- 
other had his throat cut at night, almost in the mid- 
dle of the town. It is true, strangers, travelers and 
outsiders are rarely if ever troubled. These murders 
are upon their own class and new-comers who are 
weak enough to mix in, drink and gamble with them. 
But a few days after our arrival, a Texan reached 
Canadian Station with the proceeds of a cattle sale. 
He met these fellows at night, was seen at 10 o’clock, 
drunk and generous with his money; a few days after 
his body was washed ashore some miles down the 
Canadian. And yet I am assured, and I believe it, a 
man with a legitimate business, and who will let 
whiskey alone, can travel through this country as 
safely as in Cincinnati. The better class of Cherokees 
regard the railroad towns with perfect horror and are 
never seen about them. .... 

We are off from Muscogee at 7 o’clock A. M., to see 
the remaining forty miles of road completed, then a 
little south of the main Canadian, or North Fork, 
within a mile of the Methodist Mission (Asbury Man- 
ual Labor School), which is reported to be in a flour- 


883 


ishing condition, but we lacked time to visit it. Two 
miles down the river is situated North Fork Town, an 
important Creek village. We hear that a white man 
has just been mortally wounded in an affray there, all 
of the parties being railroad followers. Between the 
two Canadians the piece of road is some seven miles 
long, and midway thereon was then the nominal ter- 
minus and the station for the El Paso Stage and 
Mail Line. We pause here an hour. Dusty and travel- 
worn pilgrims are coming from all points in Western 
Texas, and spruce, clean looking people from civili- 
zation, starting out on long and toilsome journeys 
through the sandy plains between here and the Rio 
Grande. Thence to the Main Canadian we traverse a 
dense forest; all the point between the two rivers 
is heavily timbered and choked with underbrush. The 
main stream is now wide and rapid, apparently 
thick with red mud and sand; but after standing a 
few minutes, it is sweet enough to the taste, and close 
examination shows the stream to be tolerably clear, 
the red showing through the water from the bottom. 
The bridge here was finished several months before, 
and about the time the track was laid the southern 
abutment gave way. It was found that the stone used, 
from a neighboring quarry, was entirely unfit, falling 
to pieces in the water; and the entire pier had to be 
rebuilt. We went over on the first locomotive that 
crossed; hitherto construction cars had been shoved 
across singly by hand. After our passage the engine 
brought over a very heavy train loaded with iron, and 
the bridge was then officially pronounced safe. 

We observed, with a slight uneasiness, that Brad. 
Collins and his party came down on our train, and 
it was generally Known that they had a cargo of 
smuggled whiskey in the baggage-car. At the town 
on the river they met a dozen or more of their sort; 
the whiskey was opened and passed, and when we 
returned from viewing the bridge three of them were 
galloping about the town, brandishing pistols and 
yelling like demons. My companion took a brief look 
and suggested, ‘“‘This is a devilish queer place; let’s 
get out of it.’ This suited my humor admirably, so 
we crossed into the Choctaw country and spent the 
day. Two miles through the heavy forest brought us 
to a beautiful farm, tilled and improved as well as 
the average in Ohio, which we found to be the resi- 
dence of Tandy Walker, Esq., Choctaw and nephew 
of ex-Governor Walker, of that Nation. Mr. Walker 
occupies a rather pretentious ‘double log-house,” 
built in Southern style, with open porch or passage 
between. Here we took dinner and found him a 
gentleman of unusual intelligence and enterprise. He 
tells us that he is the only Choctaw in the district 
who is in favor of sectionizing and admitting white 
immigration; and there are probably not a hundred 
in the Nation who favor it. He was once a leading 
man, but is now almost ostracized for his vote and 
opinions. He has five white men in his employ and, 
like Logam, who had “none to mourn” he is “pointed 
out as a friend of the whites.” By the laws of these 
nations, white men can reside here by being employed 
by a legal citizen, in which case the citizen is respon- 
sible for their misdemeanors; or he can pay a license 
and take out a “permit” for his white employees, and 
the nation takes the responsibility. .... 

While we were “locating tracks” through the Choc- 
taw Nation, the Secretary of the Interior and his 
party came to inspect the railroad, remaining one 
night at the Canadian. Being in the interior, we 
failed to see them, but, on our return, found the com- 
munity jolly over the party’s rich experience. 

The day they reached the end of the M. K. & T. 
track, a man was seized at 4 P. M., near the cars, by 
four robbers, and relieved of eighty dollars in gold; 
and that night one was shot dead within a hundred 
yards of their sleeping car. Mr. Woodward, the super- 
intendent of the road, accompanied the party, and was 
rather lively in his jokes upon his employees for com- 
plaining of these ruffians and asserting there was 
danger on the road. That night one of the party was 
taken sick, and Mr. W. started out to look for a 
doctor. By mistake he poked his head into the tent 
of a gambler, named Callahan, who happened to be a 
little out of humor. He thrust a six-shooter into Mr. 
Woodward’s face, and exclaimed rather pointedly: 
“Air ye lookin’ for me? I’m ready if y’ are.” Of course 
such intention was promptly disclaimed, and the 
superintendent made good time off the ground. 


The Secretary was considerably stirred up, and 


884 


issued some stringent orders against “intruders in 
the Indian country.” A lieutenant was sent to the 
terminus with a squad of cavalry under orders to 
notify the “intruders’ and shoot all who refused to 
leave within twenty-four hours. All the railroad busi- 
ness had been moved from Muscogee to Canadian 
River and all the roughs who were able had followed. 

On the afternoon of a rather sultry day my com- 
panion and I left the abandoned town and struck out 
afoot northeastward for Fort Gibson. Three miles out 
brought us to the old Texan road, original wagon 
road and cattle trail from Western Texas to Kansas 
City and Leavenworth. Here we were overtaken by 
a grizzly, weatherbeaten old Texan, with a light load 
for Baxter Springs, Kansas, who politely asked us to 
ride. As we dropped valises in the wagon, he asked, 
with what sounded like an eager tone: 

“Got any whiskey in them?’ 

“No,” was the answer with expressed regrets. 

“Tf ye had, ye’d walk, you bet; wouldn’t have you 
get in here with one pint of whiskey for five hundred 
dollars.” 

This radical temperance platform in this latitude 
excited our astonishment, and we called for an ex- 
planation. He gave it thus: “A burnt child dreads the 
fire. One pint, yes, one dram o’ whiskey’d cost me 
this hull load. These deputy marshals d——— the 
thievin’ rascals, I say they’ll search y’r wagon 
any minit, and, if they find one drop, away goes the 
hull load to Fort Smith, and d——— the haight of 
it d’ye ever see again. One trip, a nice lookin’ chap 
enough asked me to ride. He got in, and pretty soon 
pulled a flask. ‘‘Drink,’ says he. “After you,” says I. 
Well, in less ’n ten minutes comes the marshals and 
grabbed us. If they find a drop, even on the man as 
is ridin’ with you, they take everything and nary 
dollar do you ever git. Why, that feller was in with 
‘em, of course. They seize everything they can git a 
pretense for, and then divide. There won’t anybody 
but a scamp or a rough take such an office as deputy 
marshal in this country. There’re all on the make and 
in with the roughs. That’s what I say.” 

I would fain hope the old man was mistaken in his 
general estimate of Federal officers in the Territory, 
but there is too much evidence of this nature to per- 
mit me to believe the charge entirely false. The most 
outrageous frauds have been perpetrated by these 
fellows, I cannot doubt; I can only say that the people 
generally both white and red, credit a few of the 
marshals with honesty and official probity. 


APPENDIX XXXVII—7. 
PAT SHANAHAN’S WAR 


Pat Shanahan had been an early section foreman in 
the service of the Atlantic & Pacific Railway at Vinita. 
As a result of some misunderstanding between him- 
self and the company he had been discharged. Im- 
pressed with a feeling that he had been the victim of 
a measure of injustice in the transaction, he decided 
to even the matter up with the railroad company. 
His wife had died a year or two before, and he had 
become acquainted with a young Cherokee woman to 
whom he had taken a liking. After his discharge from 
the service of the railroad company, he married the 
Cherokee girl, and thus became an adopted citizen of 
the Cherokee Nation. 

Now it was the privilege of every citizen of the 
Cherokee Nation, whether a Cherokee by descent or 
adoption, to select and appropriate to his own use a 
site for a home and also as much land as he could 
farm, provided that the bounds of the latter did not 
approach nearer than a quarter of a mile to the 
fenced limits of the lands similarly improved and 
used by some other tribal citizen. Incidentally, it 
may be stated that, instead of ‘possession being nine 
points of the law,” it was a common saying that, 
“Possession is eleven points in the law in the Chero- 
kee Nation. 

Availing himself of the privilege accorded to adopt- 
ed citizens, Shanahan selected and improved a piece 
of property at the end of the railroad track and, 
whether purposely or not, built his barn directly in 
front of the same, on ground over which the track 
would have to be laid if the contemplated extension 
was built. When the railroad company was ready to 
begin operations he was notified that his barn stood 
upon the right-of-way which had been set aside for 
that purpose by Congressional enactment. The owner 


APPENDIX 


stood insistently upon his rights as a Cherokee citizen 
and, when the railroad construction gang attempted 
to go upon the premises by force, he drove the men 
off with the aid of half dozen heavily armed assistants 
who stood behind a barricade or defensive work, made 
by piling up railroad cross-ties at the disputed point 
on the right-of-way. 

Then the railroad company sought to resort to a 
legal expedient in order to move the obstructor from 
the right-of-way. In those days in the Cherokee Na- 
tion, clergymen of recognized religious denominations, 
judges of the tribal courts and mayors of incorporated 
towns were authorized to perform the marriage cere- 
mony, but there was no provision for Keeping records 
of such marriages and, in many cases at least, no 
marriage certificate was issued. So, in order to gain 
time sufficient to remove the house from the right-of- 
way and presuming the lack of tangible proof, either 
by witness or documentary evidence, the railway 
authorities decided to question the validity of the al- 
leged marriage between Shanahan and the Cherokee 
woman, the effect being to destroy his right as an 
adopted citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Unfortunately 
for the success of such a plan, the latter got an ink- 
ling of it from some source, so he promptly called 
upon Rev. J. W. Scroggs, pastor of the Union (Inter- 
dominational) Church, whom he surprised with a 
bland request to officiate in a ceremony uniting him- 
self and his wife in the holy bonds of matrimony. 
Incidentally, Shanahan explained that they had been 
married some years before, but that there was neither 
record nor certificate to that effect nor did he know 
where witnesses might be found and that, ‘for the 
sake of the children,’ he thought best to have another 
ceremony performed. 

Unsuspicious as to the real motive which inspired 
this sudden zeal for conformity with the conventions 
of society, the minister was conducted to the railroad 
section house where the ceremony was duly per- 
formed, a sumptuous dinner served and a generous 
fee received. A great light dawned upon his under- 
standing an hour or two later, however, when the 
agent of the railway company called upon him and 
upbraided him for spoiling its carefully laid plans by 
performing the ceremony, reminding him at the same 
time that he had been the recipient of complimentary 
transportation and other favors for several years past. 
The identity of the party who revealed the railway 
company’s plans was never discovered. The wedding 
was held on railway property to add insult to injury. 
The company had to come to terms with Shanahan. 


APPENDIX XXXVIII—1. 
STATEMENT OF COLONEL RICHARD I. DODGE. 


At my request Colonel Dodge has kindly furnished 
me a careful estimate upon which to base a calcula- 
tion of the number of buffalo in that great herd, and 
the result is very interesting. In a private letter, 
dated September 21, 1887, he writes as follows: 

“The great herd on the Arkansas through which I 
passed could not have averaged, at rest, over fifteen 
or twenty individuals to the acre, but was, from my 
own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from 
reports of hunters and others it was about five days in 
passing a given point, or not less than 50 miles deep. 
From the top of Pawnee Rock I could see from 6 to 10 
miles in almost every direction. This whole vast 
space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance 
like one compact mass, the visual angle not permitting 
the ground to be seen. I have seen such a sight a 
great number of times, but never on so large a scale. 

“That was the last of the great herds.” 

With these figures before us, it is not difficult to 
make a calculation that will be somewhere near the 
truth of the number of buffaloes actually seen in one 
day by Colonel Dodge on the Arkansas River during 
that memorable drive, and also of the number of head 
in the entire herd. 

According to his recorded observation, the herd ex- 
tended along the river for a distance of 25 miles, which 
was in reality the width of the vast procession that 
was moving north, and back from the road as far as 
the eye could reach on both sides. It is making a low 
estimate to consider the extent of the visible ground 
at 1 mile on either side. This gives a strip of country 
2 miles wide by 25 miles long, or a total of 50 square 
miles covered with buffalo, averaging from fifteen to 


tl ciel 


APPENDIX 


twenty to the acre. Taking the lesser number, in 
order to be below the truth rather than above it, we 
find that the number actually seen on that day by 
Colonel Dodge was in the neighborhood of 480,000, not 
counting the additional number taken in at the view 
from the top of Pawnee Rock, which, if added, would 
easily bring the total up to a round half million. 

If the advancing multitude had been at all points 50 
miles in length (as it was known to have been in 
some places at least) by 25 miles in width, and still 
averaged fifteen head to the acre of ground, it would 
have contained the enormous number of 12,000,000 
head. But, judging from the general principles gov- 
erning such migrations, it is almost certain that the 
moving mass advanced in the shape of a wedge, which 
would make it necessary to deduct about two-thirds 
from the grand total, which would leave 4,000,000 as 
our estimate of the actual number of buffaloes in this 
great herd, which I believe is more likely to be below 
the truth than above it. 

No wonder that the men of the West of those days, 
both white and red, thought it would be impossible to 
exterminate such a mighty multitude. The Indians of 
some tribes believed that the buffaloes issued from the 
earth continually, and that the supply was necessarily 
inexhaustible. And yet, in four short years, the 
southern herd was almost totally annihilated—W. T. 
Hornaday’s “The Extermination 
Bison,’ pp. 390-92. 


APPENDIX XXXVITII—2z. 
WRIGHT’S ESTIMATE, 


Robert M. Wright, elsewhere referred to as one en- 
gaged in buying and shipping buffalo hides and robes, 
in his volume of personal reminiscences written dur- 


‘ing the later years of his life, recorded his impres- 


sions as to the numbers of some of the great buffalo 
herds on the Southern Plains: 

I have shot buffalo from the walls of my corral at 
the fort (Dodge) and so many of them were there in 
sight it appeared impossible to count them. It was a 
difficult problem to determine just how many buffalo 
I saw at one time. I have traveled through a herd of 
them days and days, never out of sight of them; in 
fact, it might be correctly called one continuous gath- 
ering of great shaggy monsters. I have been present 
at many a cattle round-up, and have seen ten thou- 
sand head in one herd and under complete control of 
their drivers; but I have seen herds of buffalo so im- 
mense in number that the vast aggregation of do- 
mestic cattle I have mentioned seemed as none at all 
compared with them. 

In writing this brief description of animal life along 
the old trails, I have purposely left till the last the 
mention of the buffalo, for it is the animal to which 
it is hardest to do justice. The southwestern plains, 
in early days, was the greatest game country on earth, 
and the buffalo was the noblest as well as the most 
plentiful of its game animals. I have indeed traveled 
through buffaloes along the Arkansas River for two 
hundred miles, almost one continuous herd, as close 
together as it is customary to herd cattle. You might 
go north or south as far as you pleased and there 
would seem no diminution of their numbers. When 
they were suddenly frightened and stampeded they 
made a roar like thunder and the ground seemed to 
tremble. When, after nightfall, they came to the 
river, particularly when it was in flood, their im- 
mense numbers, in their headlong plunge would make 
you think, by the thundering noise, that they had 
dashed all the water from the river. They often went 
without water one and two days in summer, and much 
longer in winter. No one had any idea of their 
number. 

General Sheridan and Major Inman were occupying 
my office at Fort Dodge one night, having just made 
the trip from Fort Supply, and called me in to consult 
as to how many buffaloes there were between Dodge 
and Supply. Taking a strip fifty miles east and fifty 
miles west, they had first made it 10,000,000,000. Gen- 
eral Sheridan said, that won’t do. They figured it 
again, and made it one billion. Finally they reached 
the conclusion that there must be one hundred mil- 
lion; but said they were afraid to give out these fig- 


of the American 


885 


ures; nevertheless they believed them. This vast herd 
moved slowly toward the north when spring opened, 
and moved steadily back again from the north when 
the days began to grow short and winter was setting 
in. Horace Greeley estimated the number of buffaloes 
at five million. I agree with him, only I think there 
were nearly five times that number. Mr. Greeley 
passed through them twice; I lived in the heart of the 
buffalo range for nearly fifteen years; now who do 
you think would be the best judge of the number? 
I am told that some recent writer, who had studied 
the buffalo closely, has placed their number at ninety 
millions, and I think that he is nearer right than I. 
Brick Bond, a resident of Dodge, an old, experienced 
hunter, a great shot, a man of considerable intelli- 
gence and judgment, says that he killed fifteen hun- 
dred buffaloes in seven days, and his highest killing 
was 250 in one day, and he had to be on the lookout 
for hostile Indians all the time. He had fifteen skin- 
ners, and he was only one of the many hunters. 

Charles Rath and I shipped over 200,000 buffalo hides 
the first winter the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
Railroad reached Dodge City, and I think there were 
at least as many more shipped from there, besides 
200 cars of hind quarters and two cars of buffalo 
tongues. Often have I shot them from the walls of 
my corral, for my hogs to feed upon. Several times 
have I seen wagon trains stop to let the immense 
herds pass; and time and time again, along in August 
or September, when putting up hay in the Arkansas 
bottom, would we have to put out men, both night 
and day, to keep them out of our work cattle. We 
usually hunted them on horseback; that is, we would 
single out one animal in a herd, and ride along by the 
Side of it, and shoot it with a six-shooter. Some- 
times we would kill several buffalo in a single run, 
but very few white men killed them wantonly.— 
“Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital.” 


APPENDIX XXXVIII—3. 
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM D. STREET. 


Another writer who had himself been a hunter, who 
helped to exterminate the vast herds of the Southern 
Plains region, was the late William D. Street, of Ober- 
lin, Kansas, who thus described them as he saw them: 

The immensity of the buffalo herds in this region 
was beyond comparison. The writer has seen them on 
the Arkansas River in the freighting days in the great 
Southwest, in Southwest Kansas, Indian Territory, the 
Panhandle of Texas, and the Llano Estacado. One 
day south of the Arkansas River between Wichita 
and Camp Supply, they were so numerous that they 
crowded the marching column of the Nineteenth Kan- 
sas so dangerously close that the companies were 
detailed to wheel out in front and fire volleys into 
the charging masses. But it was not until I came to 
the northeastern frontier that I beheld the main herd. 
One night in June, 1869, Company D, Second Battalion, 
Kansas State Militia, then out on a scouting expedition 
to protect the frontier settlements, camped on Buffalo 
Creek, where Jewell City is now located. All night 
long the guards reported hearing the roar of the buf- 
falo herd, and in the stillness of the bright morning 
it sounded more like distant thunder than anything 
else. It was the tramping of the mighty herd and the 
moaning of the bulls. Just west of Jewell City is a 
high point of bluff that projects south of the main 
range of hills between Buffalo and Brown creeks, 
now known as Scarborough’s Peak. When the camp 
was broken, the scouts were sent in advance to recon- 
noiter from the broken point of the bluff, to ascertain, 
if possible, whether the column was in the proximity 
of any prowling Indians. They advanced with great 
care, scanning the country far and near. After a time 
they signaled the command to advance by way of the 
bluff, and awaited our approach. When we reached 
the top of the bluff what a bewildering scene awaited 
our anxious gaze, 

To the northwest, toward the head of the Limestone, 
for about twelve or fifteen miles, west across that val- 
ley to Oak Creek, about the same distance, away to the 
southwest to the forks of the Solomon, past where 
Cawker City is located, about twenty-five miles south 
to the Solomon River, and southeast toward where 


886 


Beloit is now situated, say fifteen or twenty miles, and 
away across the Solomon River as far as the field- 
glasses would carry the vision, toward the Blue Hills, 
there was a moving, black mass of buffalo, traveling 
Slowly to the northwest at a rate of about one or two 
miles an hour. The northeast side of the line was 
about one mile from us; all our sides, beginning and 
ending, were undefined. They were moving delib- 
erately and undisturbed, which told us that no Indi- 
ans were in the vicinity. We marched down and into 
them. A few shots were fired. The herd opened as 
we passed through and closed up behind us, while 
those to the windward ran away. That night we 
camped behind a sheltered bend and a bluff of one of 
the branches of the Limestone. The advance had 
killed several fine animals, which were dressed and 
loaded into wagons for our meat rations. All night 
the buffalo were passing with a continual roar; 
guards were doubled and every precaution taken to 
prevent them from running over the camp. The next 
morning we turned our course, marching north toward 
White Rock, and about noon passed out of the herd. 
Looking back from the high bluffs we gazed long at 
the black mass still moving northwest. 

Many times has the question come to me: 
many buffaloes were in that herd? And the answer, 
no one could tell. The herd was not less than twenty 
miles in width—we never saw the other side—at least 
sixty miles in length, maybe much longer; two coun- 
ties of buffaloes! There might have been 100,000, 
1,000,000 or 100,000,000. I don’t know. In the cowboy 
days, in Western Kansas, we saw 7,000 head of cattle 
in one round-up. After gazing at them a few mo- 
ments, our thoughts turned to that herd of buffalo. 
For a comparison, imagine a large pail of water; take 
from it or add to it a drop, and there you have it. 
Seven thousand head of cattle was not a drop in the 
bucket compared to that herd of buffalo. Seeing 
them, a person would have said there would be plenty 
of buffalo a hundred years to come, or even longer. 
Just think that ten years later there was scarcely a 
buffalo on this continent. That vast herd and many 
other herds had been exterminated by the ruthless 
slaughter of the hide-hunters, who left the meat to rot 
on the plains, as food for the coyotes and carrion 
crows, taking only the hides, which were hauled away 
in the wagons to the Union Pacific Railroad, and 
shipped in train loads Hast. 

In a few years the bleaching bones were gathered 
up by the bone-pickers, stacked in great ricks at the 
railroad stations, and later shipped Hast, to become 
fertilizers for worn-out eastern farms. Sold for a 
price of six to ten dollars per ton, bone-picking en- 
abled many a homesteader to buy the provisions to 
take his family through the winter, and until he could 
raise another crop. The hides sold from $1.00 to $4.00 
each, with a probable average of $2.75. The robe 
hides, those killed late in the fall and early winter, 
being best, brought better prices—sometimes as high 
as five dollars each. Small fortunes were made by 
the hide-buyers and traders who furnished the sup- 
plies for hunters. Usually the hunters had little to 
show for their labor, privations and dangers. We 
have no word to say against the killers; we were one 
of them. The Government should have passed laws to 
protect and restrict the killing of buffalo. The dan- 
ger of extermination was not realized until too late; 
or as the Indians would say in lamentation and sor- 
row “Buffalo all gone.’’—‘“The Victory of the Plow,” 
by William D. Street, Kansas Historical Society ‘Col- 
lections,” Vol. IX, pp. 42-44. 


How 


APPENDIX XXXVIII—4. 
ORGANIZED BUFFALO HUNTING 


In the “Life of ‘Billy’ Dixon” are found these para- 
graphs on the buffalo hunting: 

The hunting of buffalo for their hides began in the 
spring of 1870. That was also the beginning of the 
destruction of the buffalo. As I remember the hunt- 
ing was started by a firm of eastern hide-buyers, 
whose agents came to Hays City and other towns 
near the buffalo range and offered prices that made 
hide-hunting a profitable occupation. 

We were in the very heart of the best buffalo coun- 
try between the Dominion of Canada and the Rio 


APPENDIX 


Grande, and quickly abandoned trapping for buffalo 
hunting. The first offers were $1.00 each for cow 
hides and $2.00 each for bull hides, which enabled us 
to make money rapidly. As the slaughtering increased 
and buffalo grew scarcer, prices were advanced, until 
$4.00 was being paid for bull hides by the fall of 1872. 

During the winter of 1870 we ranged all over west- 
ern Kansas, but principally along the Republican 
River and its tributaries. Generally, there were three 
or four men in an outfit, each having contributed his 
share for necessary expenses. They went where the 
range was best and buffalo most plentiful. A dug-out 
was built and occupied as permanent headquarters 
camp, the hunters ranging for miles through sur- 
rounding country. The only kind of dug-out worth 
having was one with a big open fireplace, near the 
edge of a stream of good water, with plenty of wood 
along its banks. We often occupied the same dug- 
out for a month or more. Then, as the buffalo grew 
less plentiful, we shifted our camp and built a new 
dug-out, which was easily and quickly done. 

From where the buffalo were killed on the range, 
we hauled the hides to market. Though I was not 
quite eighteen years of age, there were very few men 
who could excel me in marksmanship, which possibly 
was a natural gift supplemented by more or less 
practice. 

I always did my own killing, and generally had two 
experienced men to do the skinning. A capable man 
could skin fifty buffaloes in a day, and usually was 
paid fifty dollars a month. I have paid as high as 
twenty cents a hide to a good skinner. We often 
se Ake buffalo the day before they were to be 
skinned. 


APPENDIX XXXVITI—5. 
NEWS FROM THE BUFFALO RANGE 


Dickinson County has a buffalo hunter by the name 
of Warnock, who has killed as high as 658 in one 
winter.—Edwards County (Kansas) Leader. 

O dear, what a mighty hunter! Ford County has 
twenty men who each have killed five times as many 
in one winter. The best on record, however, is that 
of Tom Nickson, who killed 120 at one stand in 
forty minutes, and who, from September 15th to Oc- 
tober 20th, killed 2,173 buffaloes. Come on with some 
more big hunters if you have any.—Dodge City Times, 
August 18, 1877. 

The town of Griffin is supported by buffalo hunters 
and is their general rendezvous in this section. The 
number of hunters on the ranges at this season is esti- 
mated as 1,500. We saw at Griffin a plat of ground, 
of about four acres, covered with buffalo hides spread 
out to dry, besides large quantities piled up for ship- 
ment. The hides are worth in this place from $1.00 
to $1.60 each. The generally accepted idea of the 
exciting chase in buffalo hunting is not the plan 
pursued by the men who make it a regular business. 
They use the needle gun with telescope, buy powder 
by the keg, their lead in bulk and the shells, and make 
their own cartridges. The guns in a party are used 
by only one or two men, who say they usually kill a 
drove or thirty or forty buffalo on one or two acres of 
ground. As soon as one is killed, the whole herd, 
smelling the blood, collect around the dead body, 
snuffing and pawing up the ground and uttering a 
Singular noise. The hunter continues to shoot them 
down as long as he can remain concealed or until the 
last animal “bites the dust.” The buffalo pays no 
attention to the report of the gun and fliees only at 
the sight or scent of his enemy. The others of the 
party then occupy themselves in “peeling.’’ Some of 
these have become so skillful that they offer to bet 
they can skin a five or six-year-old bull in five min- 
utes. The meat is also saved and sent to market, 
and commands a good price.—Shackleford County 
(Texas) letter in the Galveston News. 


APPENDIX XXXIX—1. 
CATCHING WILD HORSES ON THE RANGE. 


An interesting event of ranch life in the Indian Ter- 
ritory was the catching of wild horses on the open 
range. The wild horses of later years were of better 
stock than those found in this country when Washing- 


a 


APPENDIX 


ton Irving visited the West, as better stock had been 
introduced among the wild herds that roamed the 
Plains. As with his cattle, each ranchman’s horses 
were known by his brand and were further distin- 
guished by their build and color. For instance, one 
herd would be stocky roans, another tall bays or sor- 
rels, and so forth. Frequently colts of one herd would 
stray off their range to another herd, being left un- 
branded. Like maverick cattle, it was legal to catch 
these wild horses and claim them. 

In catching a herd of wild horses, their range would 
be located and their trails found to the watering places 
on the creeks. On the trail, or at some other conveni- 
ent spot near the watering place, and always in the 
woods, a stout horse pen was built. The pen was gen- 
erally circular, covered about an acre, and was inclosed 
with a nine-foot fence of logs, made like a rail fence, 
staked and ridered. The gate consisted of log bars 
put up between two trees, or two heavy logs set in the 
ground as posts. Then trees were cut down in two 
long lines and piled with thick prush, so as to form 
wings in front of the gate. These piles of brush were 
about three-quarters of a mile in length, stretching 
out fan-shaped from the horse pen. 

The cowboys then rounded up the herd of wild 
horses, which were often miles away from the woods, 


and ran them toward the trails in the river bottom. 


in the direction of the horse pen. When once within 
the wings of fallen trees and brush, the animals could 
not escape. They were hurried on into the pen, where 
the unbranded horses of the wild herd were caught and 
broken to the saddle. They were then claimed and 
branded by their new owners. 


APPENDIX XXXIX—2. 
THE LOST CHILD. 


A pathetic incident in the ranch life of Northwest- 
ern Oklahoma, which is preserved in “Musings of the 
Pilgrim Bard,” occurred in November, 1888. There was 
a cow camp, or ranch, of the OF outfit located near 
Bent Canyon, about twelve miles northeast of Camp 
Supply, in the present Harper County. The foreman 
in charge was Hiram Dyer, who had his family, con- 
sisting of his wife and baby boy, with him. The little 
fellow, who was between two and three years old, 
was a great pet among the employees of the ranch, as 
indeed he was among those of the neighboring ranches 
and ranges. He was very active for one of his years, 
and had several times wandered away from home. A 
small terrier dog, which was his inseparable com- 
panion, always accompanied him on his rambles. 
More than once when his mother had almost despaired 
of finding him, some cowboy would come riding up to 
camp with the youngster in his arms, followed by the 
faithful little dog. 

One day the little boy and his dog disappeared. The 
anxious mother, alone at the ranch, sought for him in 
vain. As the cow punchers and range riders came in 
from the day’s round of duties, none of them brought 
tidings of the missing child and each immediately 
joined in the search. All night they rode, searching 
every canyon, coulee and ravine, but no trace was 
found of the lost child or the dog. Messengers were 
sent to the neighboring ranges and to Camp Supply 
and, in a few hours, scores of cowboys, cavalry troop- 
ers and Indian scouts rode up to join in the search. 
It seemed that he could not be found, though the 
ground was gone over again and again. That day, 
and the next and the next, passed without finding any 
trace of the lost boy. The very earth seemed to have 
opened and swallowed him, as it was said at the time. 
Then on the fourth day (for the search had not been 
abated) as one of the searchers was riding through 
the tall grass near the head of a canyon, he heard the 
faint bark of the little dog. Following the sound he 
found the little boy lying face downward, on the sandy 
bed of a dry watercourse, underneath a shelving bank. 
Presuming that the child was dead, he called to others 
to come. 

Oliver Thompson, who was a friend of the family, 
tenderly lifted the wasted little form in his arms 
when, to his utter astonishment, he discovered that the 
child was still alive. Hastily mounting his horse he 
started on a gallop for the ranch. It is said of those 
who witnessed the finding of the child—cowboys, 


887 


cavalrymen, and even stern-featured Indian scouts, all 
of whom were supposed to be proof against the dis- 
play of emotion—there was not one whose eyes were 
not moistened with the tears of manly sympathy. 
But swift as was the speeding cow-pony, it was not 
fast enough to win in that race, for the little boy died 
even as he was being carried home to his distracted 
mother. 

No one of the searchers expected to find the child 
alive. He had not only been wandering in the open 
for four days and five nights, but there had been a 
storm of rain and snow and sleet in the meantime. In 
addition to this there was the danger of wild animals, 
such as bears, wolves, wild cats and panthers, all of 
which were more or less common in the canyons and 
deep ravines with which that section of the country 
abounded. 


APPENDIX XL—1. 
COLONEL BOUDINOT’S LETTER. 


Washington, D. C., March 31, 1879. 

Sir: Your letter of the 25th instant, making in- 
quiries concerning the lands belonging to the United 
States, situated in the Indian Territory, is received. 

1. In reply, I will say that the United States, by 
treaties made in 1866, purchased from Indian tribes 
in the Indian Territory about 14,000,000 acres of land. 

2. These lands were bought from the Creeks, Semi- 
noles, Choctaws and Chickasaws. The Cherokees sold 
no lands by their treaty of 1866. 

The Creeks, by their treaty of 1866, sold to the 
United States 8,250,560 acres for the sum of $975,168. 
The Seminoles, by their treaty of 1866, sold to the 
United States the ‘leased lands’ lying west of the 
ninety-sixth meridian of west longitude, for the sum 
of $300,000. The number of acres in this tract is not 
specified in the treaty, but it contained about 7,000,000 
acres. (See fourth volume, Statutes at Large, pp. 756, 
769 and 786.) 

Of these ceded lands the United States has since 
appropriated for the use of the Sacs and Foxes, 479,- 
667 acres, and for the Pottawatomies, 575,877 acres, 
making a total of 1,055,544 acres. These Indians oc- 
cupy these lands by virtue of treaties and acts of 
Congress. By an unratified agreement the Wichita 
Indians are now occupying 743,610 acres of these 
ceded lands. I presume some action will be taken by 
the United States Government to permanently locate 
the Wichitas upon the lands they now occupy. The 
title, however, to these lands is still in the United 
States. 

By executive order, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapahoe 
and other wild Indians have been brought upon a por- 
tion of the ceded lands, but such lands are a part of 
the public domain of the United States, and have all 
been surveyed and sectionized. 

A portion of these 14,000,000 acres of land, however, 
has not been appropriated by the United States for the 
use of other Indians and, in all probability, never will 
be. 

3. These unappropriated lands are situated immedi- 
ately west of the ninety-seventh degree of West longi- 
tude and south of the Cherokee territory. They 
amount to several millions of acres and are as valu- 
able as any in the territory. The soil is well adapted 
for the production of corn, wheat and other cereals. 
It is unsurpassed for grazing, and is well watered and 
timbered. 

4. The United States have an absolute and unem- 
barrassed title to every acre of the 14,000,000 acres, 
unless it be the 1,054,544 acres occupied by the Sac 
and Fox and Pottawatomie Indians. The Indian title 
has been extinguished. 

The articles of the treaties with the Creeks an@ 
Seminoles, by which they sold their lands, begin with 
the statement that the lands are ceded ‘in compliance 
with the desire of the United States to locate other 
Indians and freedmen thereon.’ 

By the express terms of these treaties, the lands 
bought by the United States were not intended for the 
exclusive use of ‘other Indians,’ as has been so often 
asserted. They were bought as much for the negroes 
of the country as for Indians. 

The commissioner of the General Land Office, Gen- 
eral Williamson, in his annual report for 1878, com- 
putes the area of the Indian Territory at 44,154,240 


888 


acres, of which he says 17,150,250 acres are unsur- 
veyed. The balance of the lands, amounting to 27,003,- 
990 acres, he announces have been surveyed, and these 
lands he designates as ‘public lands.’ 

The honorable commissioner has fallen into a natu- 
ral error. He has included in his computation the 
lands of the Cherokees west of ninety-six degrees west 
longitude, and the Chickasaw Nation, which though 
surveyed, can in no sense be deemed ‘public lands.’ 
The only public lands in the Territory are those 
marked on this map, and amount, as before stated, to 
about fourteen million acres. 

Whatever may have been the desire or intention of 
the United States Government in 1866 to locate In- 
dians and negroes upon these lands, it is certain that 
no such desire or intention exists in 1879. The negro, 
since that date, has become a citizen of the United 
States, and Congress has recently enacted laws which 
practically forbid the removal of any more Indians 
into the Territory. Two years ago Mr. Mills, of Texas, 
caused a provision to be inserted in the Indian Appro- 
priation Bill prohibiting the removal. of the Sioux 
Indians into the Indian Territory, a project at that 
time contemplated by the Interior Department; and by 
a similar provision in the Indian Appropriation Bill 
of last winter, the removal of any Indians from Ari- 
zona or New Mexico into the Indian Territory is for- 
bidden. ; 

These laws practically leave several million acres 
of the richest lands on the continent free from Indian 
title or occupancy and an integral part of the public 
domain. 

5. The town of Wichita, in the state of Kansas, at 
the junction of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers, the 
present terminus of a branch of the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe Railroad, and the town of Eldorado, the 
terminus of another branch, are the nearest railroad 
points to these lands. From Wichita to these lands is 
about ninety miles due south. . .. There are several 
other railroad points on the northern line of the Terri- 
tory, more remote than Wichita or Eldorado. These 
points are Coffeyville, the terminus of the Leaven- 
worth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad: Chetopah, on 
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, which is built 
through the Territory to Texas; and Baxter Springs, 
the southern terminus of the Missouri River, Fort 
Scott & Gulf Railroad. A glance at the map will show 
the location of these places. The Atlantic & Pacific, 
now called the Saint Louis & San Francisco, is fin- 
ished to Vinita, in the Cherokee Nation, where it 
crosses the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. The 
eet line of this railroad runs through these ceded 
ands. 

6. To save the time which would be required to an- 
swer the many letters I am constantly receiving upon 
this subject, I have had made a plain but accurate 
map which I enclose with this letter. 

I shall be glad to furnish maps and such other in- 
formation as may be requested. 

Very respectfully yours, &c., 


E. C. BOUDINOT. 
Honorable Augustus Albert, 
No. 4 North Howard St., Baltimore, Md. 


APPENDIX XL—2. 
DAVID L. PAYNE. 


David L. Payne was born near Fairmont, Grant 
County, Indiana, December 30, 1836. His mother was 
a first cousin of Davy Crockett, the noted hunter- 
statesman who gave up his life for the cause of Texan 
independence in defense of the Alamo. Payne’s edu- 
cation was as meagre as that which fell to the lot of 
the average farmer’s son in any of the western states 
of that period, but he is reputed to have been of a 
studious disposition and was an eager reader. When 
he was twenty-one years old Payne became a Kansas 
pioneer, settling on a homestead in Doniphan County 
and operating a sawmill. At the outbreak of the Civil 
War he enlisted as a private in the 4th Kansas In- 
fantry, with which he served three years. Returning 
to Kansas after having been discharged at the expira- 
tion of his term of enlistment, he was elected to the 
Legislature in the fall of 1864. During the course of 
his campaign for this election, he was again in the 
field as captain in command of a company of state 


APPENDIX 


militia which had been called into the service to aid in 
repelling the Price Raid. During the legislative ses- 
sion of 1865 Payne was very active, especially in mat- 
ters pertaining to military affairs. After the adjourn- 
ment of the legislature he immediately reénlisted in 
the military service as a private (taking the place 
of a man who had been drafted, but who had a large 
family to support) and was assigned to the 18th Regi- 
ment of the United States Veteran Reserve Corps. 
Shortly afterward he was offered a commission as a 
lieutenant in the regular army, which he declined. 
He was at Appomattox and thus was privileged to 
witness the end of the great conflict between the se- 
ceding states and the General Government. 

After the end of the Civil War, the career of Payne 
was so varied as to appear kaleidoscopic. He served 
as sergeant-at-arms of the Kansas House of Repre- 
sentatives during the legislative session of 1866. 
Shortly afterward he was appointed postmaster at 
Fort Leavenworth. In 1867 he was commissioned cap- 
tain of the 18th Kansas Cavalry—a battalion raised 
for service against the Indians of the Plains, who 
were then at war. With this command he saw much 
active and arduous service in the western part of 
Kansas. His troop was attacked by a scourge of 
cholera, which was epidemic on the Plains at that 
time. Again in the fall of 1868, the War Department 
ealled on the Governor of Kansas for a full regiment 
of volunteer cavalry and, when it was mustered into 
the service as the 19th Kansas, Payne’s name appeared 
on the official roster as that of a troop captain. During 
the winter of 1868-69 the 19th Kansas saw active ser- 
vice in Southwestern Kansas, Western Oklahoma and 
the Texas Panhandle, being with Custer during the 
greater part of the Washita campaign. 

In 1870 Payne settled on a homestead in Sedgwick 
County, Kansas. The next year he was elected to 
membership in the lower house of the State Legisla- 
ture. During the session which followed his principal 
distinction was gained by introducing and successfully 
championing a measure for the removal of the politi- 
eal disabilities of ex-Confederate soldiers who, up to 
that time, had been disfranchised in Kansas. In 1872 
he was nominated as a candidate for the State Senate, 
but was defeated in the election, though running far 
ahead of his ticket. (He ran as a Democrat then, 
though he had formerly been affiliated with the Re- 
publicans.) He then spent several years in Colorado 
and New Mexico and at his boyhood home in Indiana. 
Afterward he secured employment as an assistant 
doorkeeper of the House of Representatives at Wash- 
ington, where he remained until 1879. 

It is not improbable that he became acquainted with 
Boudinot and others who were interested in the open- 
ing of the “Oklahoma Country,” as the unassigned 
lands were coming to be called. In any event, he be- 
gan to plan and agitate his Oklahoma colony propo- 
sition immediately after his return from the Hast, 
though others had already been in the same field. His 
activities were incessant along this line during the 
ensuing five years, and he continued to be the soul 
and inspiration of the movement for the opening of 
Oklahoma to white settlement until his death. He 
was engaged in organizing for another invasion of 
the territory when he died, very suddenly and unex- 
pectedly, at Wellington, Kansas, November 27, 1884. 
He was buried at Wellington, his funeral being the 
largest that was ever held in that community. 

Payne is popularly credited with having originated 
the idea of colonizing the Oklahoma country and by 
many he is believed to have bestowed the Indian name 
of Oklahoma upon the country in which he tried to 
effect a settlement. As a matter of fact, he was not 
entitled to credit on either account. The suggestion 
of the name Oklahoma can be traced back to a time 
long before Payne ever dreamed of leading white set- 
tlers into it and, moreover, at least two attempts were 
made to colonize it before he returned to the West 
from Washington. But, although others who had tried 
to organize colonies and lead them into Oklahoma be- 
came discouraged and turned to other pursuits, Payne 
persisted with a determination that seemed born of a 
mighty purpose, and, seemingly, no amount of defeat 
or disappointment could dampen his ardor or discour- 
age his dauntless spirit. Heedless alike of obstacles 
and sneers, he kept his one great purpose in mind. 


WAGON-TRAIN AT CALDWELL, KANSAS, READY TO START DOWN THE CHISHOLM TRAIL 
TO DARLINGTON AND FORT. RENO 


CAMP OF THE ‘‘BOOMERS’’ OF PAYNE’S OKLAHOMA COLONY, ON THE BORDER NEAR 
CALDWELL, KANSAS, IN THE SUMMER OF 1884 


LIBRARY 
OF TH 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


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APPENDIX 889 


One arrest and removal from the forbidden territory 
might satisfy the adventurous longing of some of 
the other Oklahoma leaders, but not so with him. 

Payne spent over five years in actively pushing the 
Oklahoma propaganda. During that time no less than 
eight attempts were made to colonize the Oklahoma 
country under his personal direction. It was largely 
due to his ability as an organizer and to his persistent 
agitation that the name Oklahoma became a household 
word. He commanded the confidence and even affec- 
tion of his followers. His activity and zeal in behalf 
of the proposed opening of the unoccupied lands of the 
Indian Territory ended only with his life and, even 
then, the movement had gained such impetus under his 
leadership that it went on to the point of achievement 
without him. 


APPENDIX XL—=3. 
GENERAL JOHN POPE’S REPORT ON PAYNE. 


The notorious “Captain Payne’ again made an at- 
tempt with a small party to enter and occupy the 
Oklahoma district of the Indian Territory, but, as 
heretofore, he was arrested by troops and taken to 
Fort Reno with several of his followers. Thence he 
was, at the request of the Interior Department, taken 
to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and turned over to the United 
States marshal for the western district of Arkansas 
for trial before the United States courts. He was, of 
course, released from custody and notified to appear 
at the next term of the court. He brought suit at 
once in the State court of Arkansas against the offi- 
cer who took him to Fort Smith, and laid his damages 
at an amount which his whole colony could not have 
made in fifty years, His history, in connection with 
his oft-repeated and publicly-proclaimed violation of 
the laws of the United States is contained in the fol- 
os letter to division headquarters by me in June 
ast: 

We shall no doubt soon have a repetition of the at- 
tempts of Payne and his followers to enter and occupy 
the Oklahoma district of the Indian Territory, neces- 
sarily followed by his arrest by the troops after long 
marches, his transportation to the line of the Indian 
Territory, either north or south, and then his release, 
without any consequence whatever to him. In a short 
time he will appear again on the southern line of Kan- 
sas, and the same process will be gone through with. 
These proceedings have been going on for some years. 
The Government is punished for them by a heavy ex- 
pense. The troops are punished by long and severe 
marches at all seasons of the year. The soldiers em- 
ployed in this business are taken from the posts in 
the vicinity of the Indians where they are much 
needed, and have their horses worn and broken down 
so as to be in part unfitted some time after for the 
active service which may be imposed on them at any 
moment, and all this because a convicted criminal, 
once condemned and fined for his violation of law, 
persists in repeating his crime. Being wholly impe- 
cunious, and the law imposing no other punishment in 
his case except a fine, which he is unable to pay, he is 
practically beyond the reach of the law. He proclaims 
with all the publicity of the newspapers and posters 
his purpose to renew the offense for which he is now 
under, conviction; assembles openly a considerable 
number of persons at some point of Kansas, and enters 
at once upon another violation of the law. This one 
man under sentence by the United States courts pub- 
licly enacts his performance about once a year, and 
the Government appears to have no remedy except to 
keep a company of cavalry simply to watch and to 
rearrest and remove him from the Territory. It would 
be easy to stop all this brazen outrage upon law and 
upon respect for the authority for the Government by 
simply confining Payne in the guard-house at the post 
in the Indian Territory nearest to which his arrest by 
troops is made, and compelling him for a time to work 
for his living, a thing probably very unusual and 
painful to him; but I presume that process cannot be 
pursued under the law. Meantime, Payne brings suit 
in the courts for $25,000 damages against me for my 
acts as department commander in having him ejected 
from the Indian Territory, proclaims his purpose pub- 
licly to repeat his invasion this autumn, and then re- 
pairs to Washington City, as is stated in the papers, 


to confer with the Interior and War Departments on 
the subject of his next attempt to invade and occupy 
the Indian Territory. 

These transactions would appear to be rather in 
the nature of a farce but for their effects. Few people 
in this region have any respect for laws or decisions 
of the courts in the matter of the Indian Territory, 
when they see such performances going on constantly, 
and observe, as they cannot fail to do, that the Gov- 
ernment appears to be powerless to punish any one 
for open premeditated violation of the laws, and the 
proclamation of the President of the United States 
based thereon. 

Naturally, every loafer or outlaw in all this region, 
as indeed every ordinary respectable citizen, can have 
but little belief in the power of the Government to 
protect the Indian Territory by punishing this class 
of offenders against the law. Indeed, it is reasonably 
plain that the only persons likely to be punished are 
the agents of the Government, military or civil, who 
are engaged under its orders in trying to prevent this 
violation of the laws and obligations of the United 
States. 

In order to attempt at least to put a stop to the 
continued repetition of proceedings which bring the 
Government and the laws into contempt, I am com- 
pelled to ask further instructions as to the personal 
treatment of Payne if he be again arrested in the 
Indian Territory in the act of another violation of the 
law. The present modes of procedure—the only modes 
I am authorized to pursue—are manifestly ineffective, 
and have come to be considered a sort of a farce in 
this part of the country, and furnish the people a 
source of mirth rather than of warning to respect 
the laws of the United States and the orders and 
proclamations of the President. 

I sincerely trust that some law will be enacted to 
cover Payne’s case at as early a date as possible. The 
only proceedings we can take against him have been 
taken, and manifestly without avail. 


APPENDIX XL—4. 
COMMISSIONER PRICE’S REPORT ON PAYNE. 


From official report made to the War Department 
and on file in this office, I learned that in the expedi- 
tion which left Arkansas City for the Oklahoma lands 
on the ist of February last, there were about 250 per- 
sons, principally from Kansas and Missouri, includ- 
ing some twenty women and children, with from 
eighty to one hundred wagons, filled with provisions 
and forage sufficient to last them thirty to forty days, 
and with tents, furniture, agricultural implements, 
etc. They appeared in the main to be a well-to-do, 
quiet set of farmers, and quite a different class of 
people from those who had been engaged in previous 
Similar enterprises, but they were all well armed, 
mostly with Winchester rifles and carbines, and among 
them it was reported there was one man from Wi- 
chita, Kansas, who had with him a full wagon-load of 
whiskey and cigars, intending to open a saloon on 
arriving at their destination. 

Besides this party there were other similar outfits 
which were discovered and heard of en route from 
Caldwell and Coffeyville, Kansas, to join the main 
body. Those from Caldwell are stated to have been, 
with two or three exceptions, persons without visible 
means of support, whom the citizens, though depre- 
cating the movement, were glad to get rid of at any 
price. 

Payne, with his secretary, one W. H. Osburn, trav- 
eled with the Arkansas City party and, at a meeting 
held there the night before starting, he is said to 
have roundly abused the Government and the Army. 
From the same official sources I learn that every mem- 
ber who joins the Oklahoma colony pays $2.50 for a 
certificate of membership therein, of which fifty cents 
are retained by the secretary and the remainder goes 
into Payne’s pockets... . 

I also learn that Payne issues “land certificates” to 
persons who do not desire to go down themselves, by 
which he guarantees them 160 acres of land in the 
“Oklahoma Colony” in consideration of $25, which it 
is also stated he appropriates to his own use. I have 
no copy of this last mentioned certificate; but, even if 
there are no other controlling influences at work, it is 


890 


manifestly a profitable speculation for Payne himself, 
who is not likely to desist from starting these expe- 
ditions so long as he can find persons credulous 
enough to part with their money on such worthless 
assurances, or so long as the law in relation to tres- 
passers on Indian lands remains in its present unsat- 
isfactory condition. 


APPENDIX XL—5. 
WAR CHIEF’S CHARGES. 


On a Government map issued by the Department of 
the Interior at Washington a few weeks ago and 
which is named and figured under the direction of 
Secretary Teller, Commissioners Price and McFarland, 
are the following described leases in the western part 
of Oklahoma: 


INO; 17 0RS RE eTONy hisr.inle tee seeker aeberets Fi avaneten ene 564,480 
Now 2. Ws Dailaley. Gioia ctsrapalate tite ote lee! sieve ote 564,480 
Now8..4E. Be Den many Soe a oc stere coterie eete eiehater nie te 575,000 
NO: 4055. (SS NEOTLISONM aise eteeret ci oierets Fiala Bruieverebets 138,240 
ING: Li ME Briges i” ccc slate nincotaielovsneters Gueiercdicne ene 318,720 
INO? 6. (As. (GS HEivieins)  aecs Sieteresetetets sete Glonuielaveveteteie ts tae 456,960 
NOT) Rec D Seluntersnsaraleutute terete eralaterse . 500,000 

TOTAL tat a ate he tvs, S acaeten eaten eaten AC i . «3,117,880 


Spell that out—three million, one hundred and sev- 
enteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty acres! 
Divide it up into 160-acre farms: just 19,486 farms 
with 120 acres left over for a soldier’s home; on each 
farm a husband, wife and three children would be, 
say, or in round numbers a thriving, industrious popu- 
lation of 100,000 producers! And this vast domain 
leased to seven cattle kings! What must be said of 
such a policy? Why this—Mr. Secretary Teller? Com- 
missioner Price and Commissioner McFarland say 
those lands rent for two cents per acre, and the total 
rental is $62,357.60. Who gets it? It is a well-known 
fact that there is not an Indian tribe on it and that in 
all of the Oklahoma country there has not been for 
years. Of whom, then, are the leases procured? If 
from the Government, has the money been conveyed 
into the United States treasury? We will present 
something handsome to the citizen or official proving 
that it has. Maybe it was paid last year to the United 
States troops for tying United States citizens to wagon 
ends and dragging them like dead dogs out of that 
Same country. 

But these are not the only public lands thus filched 
from the people by the cattle kings. There are other 
leases in Oklahoma not on this map. Why? And em- 
pires of the public lands fenced by these monopolists 
from Washington Territory to the Texas border, hun- 
dreds of millions of acres fattening countless herds of 
stock—at two cents per acre. 

Do not ask why Oklahoma has not been opened for 
homestead and preémption. Rather face Jerusalem 
and pray, “How long, oh Lord, how long?” 


APPENDIX XL—6. 
COLONEL BOUDINOT’S RECOMMENDATION. 


Before many weeks the President of the United 
States will send a commission to the Creeks and Semi- 
noles and Cherokees to negotiate for the purchase of 
two million acres ceded to the United States by the 
two first named nations, by their treaties of 1866, 
called “Oklahoma” and over six million of acres be- 
longing to the Cherokees called the “Cherokee Strip.” 
These two tracts of land stand in entirely different 
attitudes. The Creeks and Seminoles sold the Okla- 
homa lands to the United States for a specified price 
and have received the money from them. It was the 
understanding at the time of such sale that the lands 
were to be used for a particular purpose, and because 
of such understanding the Creeks and Seminoles no 
doubt agreed to and did receive much less than the 
lands were really worth. It is true that these lands 
are worth much more now than in 1866, but it is also 
true that they were really worth more than what they 
were sold for. The Cherokees sold the “neutral lands” 
in Kansas for $1.25 per acre the same year that the 
Creeks sold theirs for thirty cents and the Seminoles 
theirs for fifteen cents per acre; but the Cherokees 
sold their land for white settlement and the Creeks 


APPENDIX 


and Seminoles theirs for “friendly Indians and freed- 
men.” The quality of the lands did not warrant this 
difference in price. 

The United States now proposes to pay an additional 
amount for the unoccupied lands of the Creek and 
Seminole purchase called the “Oklahoma lands” and 
to open them up to white settlement. There is no half- 
way ground in the negotiations which will soon be 
proposed by the commissioners. If the Creeks and 
Seminoles are unwilling to negotiate there will be no 
difficulty in agreeing upon the additional amount to 
be paid them. If they refuse to negotiate the commis- 
sioners will report such refusal to the President and 
he will lay the matter before Congress. As to the 
Cherokee Strip I believe an overwhelming majority of 
the Cherokee people are opposed to selling an acre 
Of sity 2 eee 

If the Creeks and Seminoles decide to accept more 
money for their ceded lands, one hundred thousand 
white settlers will occupy them in eighteen months 
from this time; Oklahoma will be filled to over-flow- 
ing in less than two years; the tide will sweep over 
its borders into the lands adjoining, and a louder 
clamor than has yet been heard for the opening of the 
Indian Territory will fill the land. In my opinion, if 
the negotiations with the Creeks and Seminoles are 
successful, nothing can prevent the populating of the 
Indian Territory with white men in the near future. 
But what will be the consequence if they refuse to 
negotiate? There is danger of that, too. The popular 
branch of Congress has signified a desire to open these 
Oklahoma lands to white settlement by a vote of 240 
to 7, while the Senate was practically unanimous in 
favor of the same thing. 

These lands will never pass into the possession or 
occupancy of the Creeks and Seminoles. There is only 
one possible way in which this could be done, and that 
possible way we all know will never be accomplished. 
That way would be for the Creeks and Seminoles to 
pay to the United States the money with interest 
which the United States paid them in 1866. The Creeks 
and Seminoles have not the money which they can 
use for that purpose, and the United States would 
not receive it if they had. Looking at the matter in a 
commonsense light, it seems that if the Creeks and 
Seminoles negotiate it will result in overrunning the 
whole territory in a few years with white settlers; 
and if they refuse to negotiate the irrepressible con- 
flict between the boomers and cattlemen and army 
will go on, to end at last in the triumph of the 
boomers and the settlement of the lands without the 
Indians having any voice in their valuation. 

If the Creeks and Seminoles refuse to negotiate they 
will in effect say—‘“‘We prefer that these Oklahoma 
lands shall remain in their present condition.” That 
would all be very well if such a thing were possible; 
but I for one do not believe it is possible, and hence 
I think that their best interest requires them to get 
as much money as they can for them and prepare in 
common with the other nations for the radical changes 
which will inevitably result. 

I am opposed to selling an acre of the Cherokee 
Strip, and believe its leasing was a violation of the 
constitutional rights of the Cherokees as well as a 
gross violation of the laws of the United States. It 
may not be possible to undo the leasing at this time, 
but we can prevent any similar leasing of the lands 
after the expiration of the present lease. . 


APPENDIX XL—7. 


COMMENTS OF GENERALS MILES AND SHERIDAN 
ON THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 


“The object in reserving the Indian Territory as a 
place where the scattered tribes of Indians from 
Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and other states and terri- 
tories could be congregated and removed from before 
the advancing settlements was humane and judicious, 
and it has accomplished its mission. The Indian Ter- 
ritory is now a block in the pathway of civilization, 
It is preserved to perpetuate a mongrel race, far re- 
moved from the influence of a civilized people; a 
refuge for outlaws and indolent of whites, blacks and 
Mexicans. The vices introduced by these classes are 
rapidly destroying the Indians by disease. Without 
courts of justice or public institutions, without roads. 


ARRIVAL OF INVASION OF PAYNE’S OKLAHOMA COLONY, NORTH OF SITE OF STATE CAPITOL, OKLAHOMA CITY, IN MARCH 1883 


LIBRARY 
OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


APPENDIX 


bridges or railways, it is simply a dark blot in the 
center of the map of the United States. It costs the 
Government hundreds of thousands of dollars to 
peaceably maintain from 60,000 to 80,000 Indians there, 
when the Territory is capable of supporting many 
millions of enlightened people. 

“T am convinced that the time has arrived for a 
change and I therefore recommend that Congress 
authorize the President to appoint a commission of 
three experienced, competent, men empowered to treat 
with the different tribes: to consider all legal or just 
claims or titles; to grant to the Indian occupants of 
the Territory a sufficient quantity in severalty re- 
quired for their wants and support, but not transfer- 
able for twenty years; that their title to the remainder 
be so far extinguished as it may be held in trust or 
sold by the Government, and a sufficient amount of the 
proceeds granted them to indemnify them for any 
interest they may possess in the land; that enough of 
said proceeds be provided to enable the Indians in the 
Territory to become self-sustaining. The land not 
required for Indian occupation to be thrown open for 
settlement under the same laws and rules as have been 
applied to the public domain.” 

With this progressive view of the situation, Lieu- 
tenant-General Philip H. Sheridan saw fit to take de- 
cided issue, as the following extract from his annual 
report to the Secretary of War bears witness: 

“T cannot agree with General Miles in his recom- 
mendations regarding the Indian Territory, or in his 
confidence in the ability of the Indian to make himself 
self-supporting in so short a time. All our experience 
heretofore does not warrant such confidence, and such 
opinions should be regarded as individual rather than 
representative of the Army. The processes of civil- 
ization must necessarily be slow, and will no doubt 
be worked out in time if firmness and fair treatment 
is observed and a Steady policy be pursued, but the 
ultimate result is still some distance in the future. 
When a tribe becomes refractory or has worked itself 
into a state of open revolt, its temporary transfer to 
the control of the military for purposes of discipline, 
as has recently been done with the Cheyennes and 
Arapahoes in the Indian Territory and the Apaches in 
Arizona, will be found of benefit, but the permanent 
control of the Indians is not desired by the Army at 
large.” (Annual Report, Secretary of War, p. 63.) 


APPENDIX XL—S8. 
THE SIMPLE RULES OF THE CLAIM BOARD. 


Article 1 of the rules provided: 

“We, the undersigned, agree to support and assist in 
carrying out the following regulations and require- 
ments in regard to holding claims in the neutral strip 
of Indian Territory. 

“Article 2. That any person of legal age shall be al- 
lowed to hold one claim, and one claim only of 160 
acres of land until April 1, 1887, provided that he shall 
by that time have broken at least five acres, or put 
other improvements thereon equivalent thereto. 

“Article 5. That all persons who have heretofore or 
who may hereafter come in person to take, select or 
purchase claims and go away with a bona fide inten- 
tion of returning, shall be entitled to all the benefits 
of these rules and regulations. 

“Article 6. That in case any person shall jump or 
trespass, or in any way damage a claim of any of the 
signers of these rules and regulations, or of anybody 
entitled to the benefits of these rules and regulations, 
said person or persons shall be politely solicited to 
get off such claim, stop trespassing and make good 
any damage done thereon; and, if after 24 hours, no 
attention shall be paid to such notice, measures suffi- 
ciently severe shall be resorted to, to compel said 
person or persons to comply with said notification.” 


APPENDIX XL—9. 


EXTRACT FROM THE RESOLUTIONS FOR PRO- 
POSED TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION, 


“Section 3. To enable us to consolidate our strength, 
and to know the wants of the whole territory, it is 


891 


suggested and hereby agreed upon that the entire 
population of Cimarron Territory turn out on Febru- 
ary 22, 1887, and hold an election in their respective 
neighborhoods as near in conformity to law as pos- 
sible, electing in each district three representatives 
who shall meet in Beaver City, on the fourth day of 
March, 1887, as a territorial council. 

“To carry out the objects set forth in the preceding 
section, a president, vice-president, secretary and 
treasurer is hereby elected and authorized to act as a 
local council, constituting a board to be known as a 
claim board. 

“Section 5. The claim board is authorized to proceed 

at once to have printed for squatter claimants’ use, 
blank quit claim deeds, and for each parcel of land 
or town lot the president and secretary shall execute 
a deed to the original claimant when called upon to 
do so; but if any contest appears to exist, or doubt to 
the priority of right existing in the claimant, then the 
matter shall rest and no deed issue until all the par- 
ties interested shall have a chance for a hearing, and 
evidence filed in writing, if demanded, and the decision 
rendered by the board of three disinterested citizens 
selected in the usual way by parties interested. Any 
party feeling himself aggrieved may appeal to a new 
board of five arbitrators, selected as above, but must 
state such appeal within five days, and pay to the 
secretary the sum of $5. 
“Section 6. For each parcel of land or town lot 
deeded as above stated, the president and secretary 
shali each be entitled to the sum of 25 cents, but for 
each parcel of land or town lot deeded to non-resi- 
dents, the sum of $5 shall be paid.” 


APPENDIX XLI—1. 


CROCKER’S ACCOUNT OF THE OKLAHOMA DELE- 
GATION IN WASHINGTON. 


As soon as the Oklahoma Bill passed the House of 
Representatives, we went immediately to work to 
have the bill brought up in the Senate but, after labor- 
ing for several weeks in vain, we found it so com- 
pletely pigeon-holed in the Senate, that we began 
getting up a substitute bill in the closing days of that 
session. This was put on foot late in February, by 
General Weaver, Springer, Mansur, and others. But 
few days remained to accomplish this task. The bill, 
however, was finally drafted as a makeshift measure 
and approved by the committee and ordered printed. 
General Weaver came to me and said: 

“Crocker, how long will it take you to get this bill 
printed?” 

“Well,” said I, “if I have not far to go to get the 
work done, in a printing office where there is force 
enough, I can have the bill printed and placed in your 
hands in one hour. How far is the printing office from 
here?” 

“Why, it is almost a mile, away up Pennsylvania 
Avenue.” 

“Give me the bill and I will see how quick I can get 
it printed and return with it.” 

As I took the bill, the attorney for the Santa Fe 
Railroad handed me a dollar, saying, “You may need 
this. Now, Mr. Crocker, fetch that bill to us as quick 
as you can, for Chairman Springer wishes to intro- 
duce it before adjournment.” 

I shoved the bill into my pocket, ran out and caught 
the first street car up the Avenue and soon landed, a 
mile away at the printing office. Up the flight of 
stairs I ran, pulling the bill from my pocket as I ran, 
and I suppose, dropped the dollar bill in my haste. I 
called the foreman’s attention to the importance of 
getting that bill set up and printed on short notice 
and in the quickest time possible. I suggested that 
he cut the bill into a dozen pieces, if he had that 
many typesetters, so the type could be set in ten or 
fifteen minutes, and thus make it possible for the 
amendment to the bill to be printed and introduced 
that evening, or otherwise, it would be too late. He 
did so, got the type together and ran off quite a num- 
ber of copies of the bill in little or no time. I grabbed 
the pile and away I ran, to board the first car back 
to the Capitol, but when I thrust my hand into my 


892 


pocket, the dollar bill was not there. However, as 
luck would have it, I found a nickle and made the 
trip in time. : 

General Weaver and all the friends awaiting my 
return, were greatly surprised at the time I had made, 
but when I explained the method adopted, they all saw 
through a printer’s expedient. The makeshift substi- 
tute measure was introduced and finally became a law, 
when signed by President Cleveland, on March 2, 
1889. However, the bill was in such a condition after 
it passed the Senate that it had to be referred to a 
conference committee, and Congressman Bishop W. 
Perkins of Oswego, Kansas, happened to be on that 
committee and prevented its defeat. As I have said, it 
became a law and proved to be the entering wedge 
that finally opened the entire Indian Territory to white 
settlement. Captain Couch and Judge David A. Har- 
vey, of Topeka, Kansas (afterward elected as the first 
delegate to Congress from Oklahoma), had left Wash- 
ington during the last week of February, in advance 
of me. 


APPENDIX XLI—2. 
THE INDIAN DELEGATIONS AT WASHINGTON. 


Representative Springer, who had formed the opin- 
ion that the members of the Indian delegation who 
were opposing the passage of his Oklahoma Bill were 
all loafers and parasites, who lived off of their fellow 
tribesmen, without any gainful exertion or industry 
on their own part, conceived a brilliant scheme to 
have them subpoenaed to appear before the House 
Committee on Territories, of which he was a member, 
as witnesses, with the intention of making each one 
say that he was indolent and unworthy of being a 
tribal representative. The Indian delegates appeared 
in a body before the committee. Mr. Springer selected 
Mr. Lucien B. Bell, better known as “Hooly” Bell 
(Hooly being the Cherokee word for bell) as the first 
victim of his inquisition, so addressing Mr. Bell, he 
said: 

“Mr. Bell, tell the Committee what you do for a 
living—what is your trade, calling or occupation?” 

There was a flash in the eye of Hooly, instantly fol- 
lowed by a guileless expression, as he replied: 

“Various things. I practice law a little, farm some, 
run for office occasionally, now and then take a hand 
at poker and never miss a horse race if I can get to 
it. The rest of my time I spend in trying to fool God 
like you white folks do.” 

This reply is said to have taken the wind all out of 
the sails of Representative Springer, for the laughter 
that followed, not only from the Indians but by mem- 
bers of the Committee as well, had the effect of prac- 
tically ending the hearing. 

Hooly could quote poetry in two or three languages; 
Boudinot was one of the most artistic performers on 
the piano in Washington, while old Soggy could sing 
like a whole camp meeting. Isparchechar was de- 
seribed as “the noblest Indian of them all,’ to look at 
—a pure blood Muscogee, then past sixty years old. 

One day this council of delegates from the five tribes 
invited some other Indians who happened to be at 
Washington, to attend their weekly session. The lat- 
ter, mostly Sioux and Chippewas, came fantastically 
arrayed in blankets, feathers and paint. Soggy, who 
was very progressive (though he could only read and 
write in Cherokee, and spoke but very few words of 
English), was disgusted. Before any of his associates 
knew what was on his mind he took the floor and be- 
gan to lecture the guests. Soggy weighed 300 pounds 
and could be funny or impressive as he pleased. On 
that particular occasion he didn’t wait for the formal 
ceremonies incident to passing the pipe of peace but, 
stepping out in front of the blanketed visitors, he 
said: “No more buffalo—no deer.” Then pausing and 
impressively pointing to the garb of those whom he 
addressed, he shook his head with a look of contempt 
and exclaimed: “Blankets, no good—feathers, no good 
—paint! ugh!” Then his manner changed to one of 
earnest advice and, going through a most elaborate 
and significant pantomime, he continued: ‘Injuns 


APPENDIX 


must work—plow—raise corn—cattle—good clothes— 
get fat!” 

With that he made a sweeping gesture which in- 
cluded his dignified fellow delegates and laughed till 
his ponderous frame quivered. The visiting Indians 
looked ashamed, serious and amused all at one and 
the same time while the other delegates gazed upon 
Soggy with amazement. It was his first oration in 
English, 

APPENDIX XLI—=3. 


PROPOSED PURCHASE OF THE CHEROKEE 
OUTLET. 


“Vinita, C. N., October 14, 1886. 
“Dear Mr. Thompson: 

“T expected to meet you on your return & very sorry, 
for I can’t express myself as clear by letter & for this 
reason I want to have you give me a few minutes to 
read my favor carefully. ... 

“T expected to visit Council with a gentleman, who, 
if he comes, comes to make the Cherokee Nation a 
bona fide offer of twelve or thirteen dollars for the 
entire land west of 96°. He is now making a more 
thorough inspection than my report. This offer was 
intended for last Council but it was intrusted to 
trifling parties & fell through. The bind money has 
all been subscribed, as the enclosed letter will ex- 
plain and, if nothing new comes up and my report of 
the resources of the ‘Outlet’ is verified, this gentleman 
& probably one other will reach this place between 
now and Council time & I will bring them or send 
them to Tahlequah. They will make an offer of cash 
and ask probably an option long enough to have Con- 
gress of the U. S. ratify or sustain the Cherokee deed 
& in case Congress fails, to secure from the Supreme 
Court, for every detail of the Cherokee title has been 
examined and it has been found from the best legal 
opinion the title to the ‘Outlet’ is perfect within the 
Cherokees & in case the sale falls through you will 
see the great advantage of this offer to establish a 
future value on these lands, & if ever an intelligent 
Delegation is secured, to get a higher raised valuation 
on the lands already sold. But at the least, I want 
your codperation, & let it be, like my own, to be un- 
known. The sale, even at $12,000,000.00 at 5% inter- 
est, will give many times more value than the lease. 
I have been working on this scheme carefully since 
1882, as also has my partner, Mr. Wallace. I fear 
opposition from Hoolie in this asked for option, for 
the reason that I wish to drop him for the failure 
last year & for you to quietly break his influence, if 
he has any. We may decide to ask the Nation for 
744% of the cash money paid outside of our own sale 
to other parties. If we decide on this I can imburse 
you & two or three other infiuential Cherokees hand- 
somely for it, etc., outside of the great advantage de- 
rived from this offer, from the large amount of wealth 
paid into the treasury of this country. And, as I 
said to you, I had a very interesting subject to talk 
to you of; now you know it & not even my wife 
knows scarcely even a word, for all of my corre- 
spondence on this subject has been carefully with- 
held from every one, and ’tis possible this offer by this 
Syndicate may fall through, but I trust, as the en- 
closed letter will explain, to be there & have the 
option asked of this Council. 

“Very truly your friend, 
“(Signed) FRED W. STROUT. 
“To Johnson Thompson, 

“Tahlequah, C. N. 

“Pp. S.—I wish you would drop me a line if you look 
favorable upon both these schemes and if you will 
help me.” 

[Enclosure.] 


“Leadville, Colo., 
“214 W. 7th St., 
‘Dear Strout :— “Oct. 4th, 1886. 
“Your letters received. A representative of the New 
York syndicate is on his way here and, on his arrival, 
I will accompany him to Vinita. 
“Will telegraph you when I start. The money is all 
subscribed if we can secure the option. 
Very truly, 
“J. W. WALLACE, 
“Per BE. We Wen 


y 
ahh 


APPENDIX 


The following is a copy of the offer of the New York 


syndicate: 
“Tahlequah, Nov. 9, 1886. 

“To the Hon. D. W. Bushyhead, Prin’] Chief of the 

Cherokee Nation:— 

“We desire, on behalf of the syndicate which we 
represent, to bring to your attention, & through you 
to the attention of the Hon. Council now in session, 
the offer of our syndicate to purchase what is com- 
monly known as the ‘Perpetual Outlet West,’ being the 
lands west of 96°. It seems only necessary to suggest 
that our offer is to buy the lands, whatever their 
acreage, at $3.00 per acre, the amount generally be- 
ing determined by the surveys already made. The 
entire scheme will, in event that your wisdom shall 
bring the matter to the attention of the Hon. Council, 
be fully presented to the committee to which it may 
be referred & fully embodied in the Bill which will 
be laid before them. In the meantime, should you de- 
sire more exact detail, we shall take pleasure in fur- 
nishing you with explicit information. We have the 
honor to be, Sir, your obedient servants on behalf of 


the Syndicate, 
“JNO. BISSELL, 
“J. W. WALLACE.” 


APPENDIX XLII—1. 
THE OPENING. 


“It was a great day to commence the building of 
an empire. The sky was as blue as in June. A tonic 
air, as exhilarating as wine, was fanning down from 
the north with just force enough to make exertion of 
man and beast effective and pleasant. Mighty 
possibilities, sightly lands, fertility equalling the 
fabled Nile, the garden of the gods, were fenced in by 
an anxious human wall on that immortal 22d of 
April, 1889. No region had been so thoroughly adver- 
tised, so favorably advertised. The frequent heroic 
efforts of the ‘boomers’ to possess, called the atten- 
tion of all the earth to this modern Eden. The re- 
peated removal of the ‘boomers’ by the military, at 
the behest of greed, wakened the world to the belief 
that a wondrous land was here. The very name Ok- 
lahoma was a poem, an inspiration, an invitation ir- 
resistible, impossible to ignore or refuse—Oklahoma! 
A slogan for conquering and conquest! Oh, yes, Ok- 
lahoma was advertised. The denizens of all civiliza- 
tion came; came from the hills, from the valleys, 
from the prairie and forest; came from the caves of 
the earth, from the isles-of the sea and, seemingly, 
from the clouds of the air. They were here in all 
tongues, in all colors, in all garbs, with all kinds of 
profanity and every imaginable odor; were here at 
high noon. Well, I should guess old Time must have 
been knocked crazy on that twenty-second of April, 
"89, at high noon.” 

In all that legion of ’89ers, there was not one Joshua 
who could have forced the sun to stand still, but 
every devil of them could force their watches ahead 
and they did it. Then, a moment of bated breath, a 
hush till hearts could be heard to beat, the final sig- 
nal and a human flood deluged the wonder land. 

And so we are here. The result is an open book, 
which pales into insignificance the most extravagant 
romance.—Dr. Delos Walker in the “Daily Oklaho- 
man,” of April 22, 1909. 


APPENDIX XLII—2. 
BUSINESS SUMMARY OF A NEW TOWN. 


“A careful, conscientious count made by the ‘Ga- 
zette’ gives the following up to Wednesday, June 4th 
(1889). Changes are very rapid and we can only 
vouch that our figures do not overstate in any case. 

“There are in Oklahoma about 280 different business 
establishments, made up as follows: 

“There are twenty-four groceries, several of which 
do a wholesale business. 

“There are eighteen drug stores, and among them 
are some very fine ones. 

“There are fifteen stores handling dry goods and gen- 
eral merchandise. 

“There are thirteen stores handling hardware and 
«Bp ees implements, some of them on a very large 
scale. 


893 


“There are seven firms doing a flour, feed and com- 
mission business, four of them wholesale and most of 
them dealing in quantities. 

“There are nine hotels, exclusive of lodging and 
boarding houses. The latter are difficult to estimate, 
but number about twenty. 

“There are five bakeries with large ovens and first 
class facilities. 

“There are thirty-one restaurants ranging from the 
small to large and fairly good. Two ice cream parlors 
are not reckoned among them. { 

“There are twelve barber shops with twenty-nine 
chairs, and two of them with bath attachments. 

“There are fifteen confectionery, fruit and vegetable 
places, not stands. Two of them have soda water 
fountains attached. 

“There are eleven meat markets supplying every- 
thing in the meat, fish and game line. 

“There are two pump and hose houses, and three 
well-boring and drilling establishments. 

“There are seven blacksmith shops and one stone 
cutting and seven brick yards. 

“There are twenty-seven lumber yards and one of 
these alone has had freight bills amounting to $1,500 
per day, for days at a time. 

“There are four banks, with an aggregated capital 
of $200,000, and deposits of over $10,000. 

“There are nine paint shops and thirty-four paint- 
ers, some of them doing the finest and most elaborate 
sign work. 

“There are three tin shops, all of them doing a roof- 
ing business also. 

“There are two furniture stores and two undertak- 
ers. One news stand, one ten cent store, two wall- 
paper stores and one paint manufacturers’ branch. 
There are also three dressmakers. 

“There are twenty-seven surveyors and engineers. 

“There are twenty-nine real estate firms with forty- 
six members. 

“There are twenty-three law firms with forty-two 
members, ; 

“There are three shoemakers, two lightning rod 
men, two ice men, six milkmen, two auctioneers, and 
some questionable resorts, but no saloons. 

“There are twenty-five medical firms and forty- 
three doctors. 

“There are two daily and three weekly newspapers 
and three job offices, with twenty-seven persons en- 
gaged in the business. 

“There are some branches omitted, but not from 
intention. 

“Remember the above showing is made on the forty- 
second day of the town’s age. It represents the 
growth of thirty-six working days only. Just six 
weeks from bare prairie to a complete city. The 
country around it has made equal progress. It is fer- 
tile and rich and its future justifies the growth of 
Oklahoma. 

“Since the above was first put in type, one drug 
store and three dry goods stores have been added. 

“Main Street and Grand Avenue have been entirely 
graded and California partially. On Friday our re- 
porter counted 123 carpenters at work. Contractors 
estimated the number at over two hundred. 

“One billiard hall has been opened since the article 
was written. 

“The receipts of the express office here average $200 
per day and four men are employed. 

“The Santa Fe Railroad has three miles of tracks 
here and the tracks are always filled with cars for 
unloading. 

“The Odd Fellows, Masons, G. A. R. and A. O. U. W. 
have applied for charters. 

“We have another theatre now running and four 
organized church societies, and one private school. 

“Photograph galleries, which were omitted from the 
previous article, are three in number. 

“There are also two theatres, a Board of Trade, and 
a very large Fire Company.” 


APPENDIX XLII—3. 
LOST HIS CLAIM BUT SAVED HIS HONOR. 


The late Emil Bracht, of Oklahoma City, was the 
first witness in the county court who was asked 
point-blank as to his whereabouts at the hour of noon 


804 


on April 22, 1889. Mr. Bracht related the incident to 
the writer (J. B. T.) practically as follows: 

“The court room was crowded. When the question 
was asked me, ‘Where were you at high noon, Mon- 
day, April 22, 1889,’ that court room became so still 
that the dropping of a pin in its most distant corner 
would have been distinctly audible. In reply I said: 

“‘T was lying in a little clump of brush about one 
hundred yards east of the Santa Fe Railway on the 
NEY% of Section 22, Township 12 North, Range 3 
West, I. M.’” 

“Then everybody who had been holding their 
breath—both ‘sooners’ and ‘suspectors’—heaved a long, 
deep sigh and the tension was over. No more testi- 
mony was needed from me, and I was soon excused. 

“As I passed out of the building after the court ad- 
journed, another man, whom I knew to be a ‘sooner’ 
and who knew me to be a ‘sooner,’ approached me and, 
in an undertone exclaimed: 

SSYOU fool, what did you do that for?” 

“Well, if you must know, I will tell you. When 
that question was asked me, I just remembered that I 
was born and reared in Kentucky, and that no true 
Kentuckian ever could forswear his personal honor. 
So I have lost my claim, but saved my honor. And 
I would not trade my honor for the title to the best 
quarter section of land in Oklahoma Territory.” 

(Incidentally, it is of interest to know that the 
homestead on which Mr. Bracht had filed was the 
quarter section which adjoins the intersection of 
East 23d Street and Lincoln Boulevard, on the north- 
east—just across from the Oklahoma State Capitol.) 


APPENDIX XLIIIi—1. 
“SOONERS” DISPOSSESSED. 


“Sooners” in land openings subsequent to the first, 
could not plead that they had been misled by the 
advice of General James B. Weaver, as was done in 
1889. E’specially was this true in the opening of the 
Cherokee Outlet lands, where the booth registrations 
had been designed to prevent “soonering.” It was 
therefore plain that the ‘‘sooners” of 1893 were in- 
tentionally dishonest, in that they deliberately tried 
to take an unfair advantage. 

One instance in which a group of ‘“‘sooners” counted 
without their host was the occasion of much local 
interest in County “P’” (Noble County). An elderly 
farmer (who owned a good farm in Washington Coun- 
ty, Kansas, and who was, therefore, ineligible to file 
on a homestead in the outlet) came along with a 
party of six young men, including his four sons, a 
son-in-law and a brother of the latter. One of these 
young men had formerly been a cowboy on a ranch 
in the old Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association days, 
and he had volunteered to guide the party to a place 
where choice lands might be secured. 

The party had driven through with farm wagons 
and work teams, also leading enough good saddle 
animals to mount every member. Each also was well 
armed and carried a good supply of ammunition. 
When the starting signal was given, they kept toge- 
ther in a body as they raced from the border toward 
the valley whither their guide was leading them. 
When they arrived at the valley’s edge, it was only 
to find that there was a “sooner” on every quarter- 
section, with no sign of sweat on their horses. With- 
out a moment’s hesitation, the old farmer who headed 
the little band, with his followers beside him, prompt- 
ly notified each in succession to vacate the premises. 
Needless to add, each “sooner” complied with the 
demand, for discretionary reasons. 

The six young men filed on six fine quarter sections, 
located in a contiguous body, while the old patriarch 
returned to his Kansas farm content in the knowledge 
that at least six ‘“‘boomers” had been bluffed in their 
unlawful attempt at land grabbing. 


APPENDIX XLITI—2. 
A MEMORIAL RELINQUISHMENT. 


In the keen competition for place and foothold in 
such an event as one of the great Oklahoma land 
openings, there were naturally many manifestations 
of selfishness and sordianess; yet, even under such 
conditions, the light of charity, of generosity and of 


APPENDIX 


fairness gleamed brightly in many places. Poverty 
was everywhere present, and misfortune was all too 
frequently its attendant. The presence and exempli- 
fication of such human virtues may be found in the 
story of two brothers, who may be here distinguished 
only by their given names—Frank and John. 

The two brothers were from Kansas. Between the 
two there had always existed a peculiar bond of af- 
fection, though neither thought less of other brothers 
and sisters in the family. Frank had been the first 
born, while John was the next to the youngest and 
there was a difference of nearly ten years in their 
ages. One can readily imagine that Frank was a 
big brother to John in all that the term implies. 
Frank had reached the earlier stages of life’s prime, 
while John had passed his majority only a year or 
two before. 

Shortly before the day set for the opening of the 
“Strip” to settlement, the two arrived at Orlando, on 
the southern border thereof, where a married sister 
was living. John was not well—in fact, he had been 
sick abed for several days. On the opening day, how- 
ever, he was up and took an active part in preparing 
for the race. Each of the two brothers was well 
mounted and, at the sound of the signal, their horses 
sprang forward, among the leaders of the line. 

A brisk race of a few miles took them to a fine 
tract of good land, and being well in advance of most 
of the people in line, they made their selections. When 
the excitement incident to the race was over, how- 
ever, John suddenly became very ill. Frank helped him 
to dismount and he laid down while the older brother 
rode the section lines and marked the two homestead 
claims which had been selected. Later, when a man 
was driving by, toward Orlando, in a buggy, he was 
asked to take the sick brother back to town with him, 
a request to which he glady acceded, and Frank led 
John’s horse as he rode into Orlando in the afternoon, 
John died two days later. 

After John had been laid to rest, Frank lost inter- 
est in the new homestead claim. The memory of him 
who had been the little brother of other years, who 
had planned to be also neighbcr and fellow-pioneer, 
only to be stricken at the threshold of manhood, 
would ever cast its gloom over the joy of owning 
and developing the homestead. About that time, a 
poor homeseeker, who had lost out in the race, came 
to see him. He wanted a claim but said he had no 
money to pay for a relinquishment, but that he would 
work until he could pay for it. Frank asked: 

“Have you a family?” 

To this the stranger made answer that he had a 
wife and several children, but no home to which he 
might take them. Frank did not hesitate a moment; 
he merely said: 

“You may have my claim.” 

Later, another luckless homeseeker, who had also 
failed to secure a claim on which to establish a domi- 
cile for his family, was likewise given a relinquish- 
ment to John’s claim. 

Frank has lived in Oklahoma ever since coming to 
the opening of the Cherokee Outlet. He became promi- 
nent in public affairs during Territorial days, and he 
is still well known in public life of the State; his 
friends are legion. 


APPENDIX XLIII—3. 
HORSES THAT HELPED TO MAKE HISTORY. 


In accounts of the successive land openings, men 
were always the figures of prime interest, yet the 
presence and participation of men depended so large- 
ly upon the performance of horses in the several land 
openings, that horses as well as men, should have 
place in those interesting phases of local history. 


The Horse That Won A Claim And An Election. 


In the race for homestead claims at the opening 
of the Cherokee Strip, there were fine race horses used 
by many of the more enterprising homeseekers. One 
of the finest of these was that which was ridden by 
Will T. Little, of Guthrie. Will Little was a born 
horseman—a horseman after the order of Alexander 
the Great or Washington, or Grant—and nothing de- 
lighted him more than the privilege of subduing and 


¢ APPENDIX 


training a horse that had proven to be utterly in- 
tractable in the hands of every one else. As the time 
for the opening of the Cherokee Strip drew near, he 
began to make inquiries for a speedy horse with which 
to make the race for a claim. In the course of this 
search there was soon brought to his notice a pedi- 
greed race herse, which had won many races and lost 
none. The name of this horse was La Junta. But, 
sure-footed and swift though he was, La Junta was 
notorious for his vicious temper—he was reputed to 
have killed two men already and was only waiting 
to kill more men when oprfortunity was afforded. But 
for this, he could not have been bought for $10,000. 
His owner was afraid of him and La Junta knew it, 
and took advantage of it. 

Will Little went to see the horse and looked him 
over with a discriminating judgment that noted every 
line in perfection of equine form—the fierce eyes were 
a matter of after consideration. The owner frankly 
told Little the reason for his willingness to dispose 
of the animal. He named a price of $150.00 but re- 
fused to ride the horse to show his gaits and paces, 
or even put a saddle on him. Little paid the purchase 
price down on the spot and led the animal home. 
There he roped La Junta, threw him, tied him, and 
battled with him for an hour—until man and horse 
were both well worn out with the struggle. Then he 
took off the ropes and allowed La Junta to get to his 
feet, leaving neither bridle nor halter on his head, and 
told the horse to follow kim, and La Junta followed 
Will Little up and down the street, with his vicious 
temper subcued—conquered! La Junta had never been 
harnessed, yet Little harnessed him, hitched him to 
a buggy and drove him down to the stable whence 
he had been led, a veritable equine demon, less than 
two hours before. The former owner could scarcely 
believe his eyes, yet, there was La Junta harnessed 
and hitched to the buggy, a mute witness to the tri- 
umphant will of a man who passionately loved a good 
horse. After that first battle, the new owner had no 
more trouble with La Junta. 

With Will Little in the saddle, La Junta was in 
the race for a hom:stead claim, that bright autumn 
day—September 16, 1893—and La Junta carried his 
appreciative owner to a choice quarter section in the 
valley near Bear Creek, a few miles from Perry, which 
was henceforth, the Little homestead. A year later, 
Little was nominated for representative to the Legis- 
lature from Noble County. Up and down the length 
and breadth of the county Will Little rode La Junta 
in his campaign of personal visitation, until nearly 
every man, woman, and child in Noble County knew 
both horse and rider. No wonder that the latter used 
to proudly declare: ‘‘La Junta elected me to the Leg- 
islature.” 

Subsequently, Will Little was persuaded to sell La 
Junta for a goodly price, that he might return to the 
racing stable and the speed ring. But, La Junta 
never won another race, for, such was his former 
bad name that grooms were afraid of him and jockeys 
would not ride him. 


Winning A Claim With A Mustang. 


The late W. R. Gillespie, of Blackwell, was a cattle- 
man in the Texas Panhandle country during the mid- 
dle and later ’eighties. In those days, bands of mus- 
tangs, or wild horses, were still numerous in that 
region. In the forepart of 1888, he noticed a mustang 
band of fair size that was apparently composed of 
animals of above the average in size, which was led 
by a very handsome stallion. Although he had never 
been a wild horse hunter, he decided to undertake 
the capture of this particular band. This he did, 
though it required several weeks to achieve success, 
by the “waiking down” frocess. 

Most of the mares and colts were soon broken to 
the halter and sold, but the splendid head of the band, 
handsome as an Arab or a Barb, and fleet as any 
racer, was reserved by Gillespie for his own, though 
many offers were made for the animal. Wearied and 
broken by the ceaseless efforts to escape, his proud 
spirit was as yet unwilling to yield to the master- 
ful will of any other animate being, even though such 
was the man who had deprived him of his wild lib- 
erty—aye, surely the man who had done that was his 


895 


enemy and was to be treated as such. So, it was 
with great caution that Gillespie began his effort to 
bring this wild steed of the prairies into harmony with 
his will and purpose, for it was his aim to tame and 
train the animal without breaking his admirable 
spirit. To this task Gillespie brought a large measure 
of kindness and firmness, blended with infinite pa- 
tience. Two years went by before master and horse 
came into perfect accord, but the end justified the 
long continued effort. 

When that meridian hour of the memorable 16th of 
September, 1893 arrived, it found the splendid courser 
of the plains—standing on the Kansas line, with 
thousands of other steeds—docile and obedient to the 
will of the captor astride his back, and together they 
made the race from the border line to a fine quarter- 
section near the site of Blackwell which, thenceforth 
was to be the home of both man and horse. 


A Horse With A History. 


In the autumn of 1887, shortly after the new line 
of the Santa Fe Railway was put into operation from 
Arkansas City, Kansas, to Fort Worth, Texas, a circus 
passed southward, making a one-day stand at Purcell. 
In reloading, after the evening performance, a small 
Arab trick-stallion accidentally stepped between two 
big planks and, in his endeavor to extricate himself, 
he fell over and broke his leg. One of the circus 
employees was about to shoot the animal to put it 
out of its misery, when a resident of the town begged 
for its life. The broken leg was splinted and soon 
knit together, and the horse recovered. 

On April 22, 1889, a young man made a race from 
Silver City, on the old Abilene Cattle Trail, just south 
of the Canadian River, who rode a small broncho 
mare in a race up that highway, for a claim in the 
valley of the North Canadian near the site of Yukon. 
The speed of his mount was necessarily limited by that 
of a small colt, only about two weeks old, that gal- 
loped along behind. That small colt was a foal of 
the Arab trick-stallion which had met with the dis- 
tressing accident that ended his circus career at Pur- 
cell, a year and a half before. 

When this colt was fifteen months old, he grazed 
too near a barbed wire fence during a thunder storm 
and was so badly shocked that for nearly an hour he 
was supposed to be dead. When he was barely two 
and a half years old, he was hitched to a light two- 
wheeled road cart in which an ambitious young man 
made the race from the Indian Meridian for a lot on 
the townsite of Tecumseh, at the opening of the Pot- 
tawatomie country, on September 22, 1891. Hamlin W. 
Sawyer, a well-known pioneer newspaper man, of 
Oklahoma, saw the colt that day and, a few weeks 
later, he made a trade for the animal, which he named 
“Arab Charley.” 

On April 16, 1892, when the Cheyenne and Arapa- 
hoe country was opened to settlement, Sawyer drove 
Arab Charley, hitched to a light spring wagon, as 
he raced for town-lots at Cloud Chief, the proposed 
county seat of County “H” (Washita County). But 
Cloud Chief did not prove attractive, so Sawyer en- 
gaged in the daily newspaper business at El Reno. 
His fourteen-year-old son used to deliver papers, rid- 
ing Arab Charley on his route. Without his father’s 
knowledge, he used to go down to the local fair 
grounds, where several race horses were in training, 
and race against them. 

One day, late in August, 1893, Sawyer met the Rock 
Island agent and asked that transportation be secured 
for his wife and son and himself to Chicago and re- 
turn, so that they might visit the World’s Fair. In 
due time the transportation arrived and Sawyer was 
notified of the fact. That evening, he instructed his 
son to go to the Rock Island station and secure the 
transportation, after having delivered his papers. The 
lad obeyed his father’s instructions, receiving and 
receipting for the round-trip passes. However, in- 
stead of going directly home, he rode down to the 
fair grounds, where he raced Arab Charley a couple 
of heats. In doing that, he lost the railway transpor- 
tation from his coat pocket and did not notice the 
fact until he reached home and his father asked for 
it 

The envelope containing the lost passes was picked 


806 


up by a man who did not know H. W. Sawyer, the 
hewspaper publisher, but who did know H. B. Saw- 
yer, the banker. He took it to the latter, who looked 
puzzled at first, and then suddenly realizing its signi- 
ficance, his face beamed with an unwontedly genial 
smile, as he accepted the “return” of the lost passes, 
and thanked the finder graciously. The following 
Monday morning, Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Sawyer started 
to Chicago on Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Sawyer’s transpor- 
tation. Otherwise, Hamlin W. Sawyer would have 
been in Chicago visiting the great exposition on the 
day that the lands of the Cherokee Outlet were opened 
to homestead settlement, and the story of Arab Char- 
ley would never have been written. 

Sawyer had not considered making the race into 
the Cherokee Outlet because he had been a partici- 
pant at all previous lard openings, and never got 
anything worth while. Having lost out on the Chica- 
go trip, at least for the time being, he was persuaded 
to make one more run. He drove Arab Charley up 
the old Chisholm Trail, taking a saddle in the spring 
wagon. In the race on the opening day, he secured a 
homestead claim with but one quarter section be- 
tween it and the government townsite of Enid. Even- 
tually, the lands of this homestead claim were platted 
into town lots, which made Sawyer financially inde- 
pendent. 

Arab Charley lived until 1912 and belonged to Saw- 
yer until the end. He was always a horse that was 
in every way worthy of his Arab, mustang and bronco 
forebears—intelligent, speedy and dependable. 


A Horse That Deserved The Best. 


Six or seven years after the opening of the Chero- 
kee Outlet, an old farmer stopped for the night in a 
Kansas town, while driving through from Oklahoma 
to his former home in Nebraska. The liverystable 
keeper noted the care and kindness with which he 
brushed the old flea-bitten gray horse which had been 
pulling the buggy in which he was making the jour- 
ney and also that, after supper, he had returned to 
the stable to see that the animal had had enough 
hay and grain and sufficient bedding. Such unusual 
consideration finally caused him to ask the owner 
why he was concerned as to the comfort of the old 
horse. In reply the old farmer asked: “Why shouldn’t 
I take good care of him? Don’t I owe one of the 
best farms near Alva, Oklahoma, to his speed and 
willingness?” 

All of the horses that made races for homestead 
claims have crossed ‘the Great Divide” and most of 
their riders have traveled the same trail, but the 
stories of steeds and masters shall be retold to gen- 
erations yet unborn. It is well that the day of me- 
chanical transportation, on highways and through 
airlanes, did not dawn until a later period. 


APPENDIX XLITI—4. 


WICHITA MOUNTAIN FOREST AND GAME 
PRESERVE. 


When it became definitely known that the surplus 
lands of the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache reservations 
were to be thrown open within a few months, certain 
public-spirited citizens of Oklahoma City sent a me- 
morial to the Secretary of the Interior, requesting 
and urging that a reservation be made for a national 
park within the limits of the picturesque Wichita 
Mountain Range. Inasmuch as a national park could 
only be established by act of Congress, and as Con- 
gress had already adjourned and would not recon- 
vene until after the lands in question had been thrown 
open to settlement, an arrangement was quickly ef- 
fected between the Interior Department and the De- 
partment of Agriculture, whereby a tract of 58,000 
acres of land, in the Wichita Mountains, including 
several of its highest and most ruggedly picturesque 
peaks, should be set aside as a forest reserve. Such 
a course was possible, as the President had a right 
to make such a reservation simply by issuing a proc- 
lamation defining its metes and bounds, and stating 
the purpose for which it was reserved. Practically and 
in effect, the same end was reached by a different 
and much more readily available means. The custody 
of the new reserve was taken over by an official of 


APPENDIX 


the Department of Agriculture. Much of the land 
not actualiy covered by the granitic mountain forma- 
tion, was suitable for pasture and was leased out to 
cattlemen for such purposes. 

On the morning of October 26, 1903, there appeared 
in the Kansas City “Journal,” under a Guthrie, Okla- 
homa, dateline, an anonymous interview with the 
writer hereof (J. B. T.) wherein the suggestion was 
made that the government should attempt and estab- 
lish a buffalo herd on the Wichita Mountain forest 
preserve. The “Journal’s” correspondent played the 
story up for nearly three-fourths of a column, credit- 
ing the suggestion to a “prominent local sportsman.” 
Several days later it was reprinted in a Lawton paper. 
Now it so happened that there was living in Lawton 
a gentleman who was an active member of the League 
of American Sportsmen, and who was planning to 
attend the forthcoming annual meeting of that or- 
ganization, at Chicago. He did so with a resolution 
already prepared, endorsing the idea of developing 
a big game preserve on the Wichita Mountain forest 
reserve. This resolution was adopted by unanimous 
vote of the organization, with the result that the 
Bronx Park Zodlogical Society came forward with an 
offer to furnish the foundation stock for the develop- 
ment of such a herd. 

Several years were required to interest Congress in 
the proposed big game preserve. Finally such ap- 
propriatio1 was secured and a tract of 8,000 acres 
were fenced with a high strong wire fence and, in 
the spring of 1907, fifteen head of buffalo were ship- 
ped from New York City. One of these was acci- 
dentally killed in transit and two died after arrival. 
The rest prcspered and the herd has multiplied until 
it now numbers over two hundred head, despite the 
fact that many animals have been sold to parks and 
private individuals. A car-load of elks was shipped 
in from Wyoming subsequently, and these too, have 
multiplied until there is a large herd. The native deer 
have never been entirely exterminated and, with the 
protection afforded by the regulations enforced, these 
too have become very numerous. In still more recent 
years, success has finally crowned the efforts to re- 
store the pronghorn antelope, of which a few are now 
doing well in the reserve. 

The most recent addition has been a smail herd of 
twenty-two head of the old-time longhorned spindle- 
shanked, slab-sided, half wild cattle of Texas, which 
were of Spanish-Mexican origin. This last brood was 
so nearly exterminated that it required a patient and 
extended search to locate and secure them, and it is 
not strange that they now attract more attention than 
the buffalo or other wild animals on the reservation. 

Wild turkeys which had been exterminated, were 
reintroduced and have now become quite common. 


APPENDIX XLIII—65. 
THE FORT SILL RESERVATION. 


When Fort Sill was established, in 1869, a reserva- 
tion was selected, embracing something over 20,000 
acres of land. In 1893, the Indians of the Chiracahua 
Apache baad, who had been carried away as prisoners 
from Arizona, and had spent several years at Fort 
Marion (St. Augustine), Florida, and at Anniston, 
Alabama, were brought as prisoners to Fort Sill. 
Small cabins were built for them at various points 
on the military reservation and, Lieutenant H. a 
Scott, 7th United States Cavalry, was placed in charge 
of them. They engaged in farming, gardening and 
stock raising. Despite their reputation for fierce 
and relentless hostility to the white man, they seemed 
to readily adapt themselves to the ways of peace, 
and lived in a quiet and orderly way. 

Shortly before the opening of the Comanche-Kiowa 
reservation lands to homestead settlement, an ar- 
rangement was effected with the people of these 
tribes whereby the Fort Sill reservation would be 
enlarged sufficiently to furnish allotments for all the 
members of this Chiracahua band, though this fact 
was not generally known. Late in the summer of 
1902, it was rumored that two commissioners, rep- 
resenting, respectively, the Interior Department and 
the War Department, were coming to Fort Sill short- 
ly, to assign permanent allotments to the members of 
the captive band. At the same time, it was learned 


ows eee 


¥ 


FORT SILL, WHEN FIRST COMPLETED ABOUT 1871 


MOUND BUILDERS MOUNDS, LE FLORE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA 


LIBRAR 


OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 


ee OS eC 


APPENDIX 


that the Oklahoma Department of the Grand Army 
of the Republic had appointed a committee to visit 
Washington, where it was planned to call upon the 
Secretary of War and ask that he recommend to 
Congress the donation of the site, buildings and one 
~ jie de mile of land at Fort Sill, for a State soldiers’ 
ome. 

Lieutenant H. L. Scott, already mentioned, was del- 
egated and directed to select the additional lands for 
the enlargement of the reservation and survey the 
same. It is of interest to remark here that, in doing 
so, he made the outlines of the enlarged reservation 
in the form of a “figure seven,’’ in honor of the fa- 
mous 7th Cavalry with which he served so long and 
faithfully as a company officer. His name will be 
recognized as that of Major-General Hugh L. Scott, 
of the United States Army, retired, who was serving 
as chief of the General Staff throughout the first half 
of the Woodrow Wilson administration, and who was 
retired because of the age limit, shortly after the 
United States became involved in the World War, in 
TOIT. 

Of course, all this presaged the early abandonment 
of the only military post which seemed to have any 
chance to be permanently garrisoned in Oklahoma. 
At this juncture, a board of several officers of the 
Oklahoma National Guard was convened in Oklahoma 
City, under a special order of Colonel Roy Hoffman, 
the ranking officer of the National Guard, for the 
express purpose of considering this and other mat- 
ters of military interest. As a result of their delib- 
erations, a letter of protest was drafted by the 
writer hereof (J. B. T.) and subsequently signed in 
duplicate by the other officers of the board, who had 
been present at the conference. One copy of this 
letter, addressed to the Secretary of War, was sent 
directly to that officer, Secretary Elihu C. Root, while 
the other was sent to the personal secretary of the 
President of the United States. Sound military rea- 
sons were advanced as to why the post and reserva- 
tion at Fort Sill should be held intact. This letter 
seemed to have made a successful appeal to the judg- 
ment and prompt action of President Theodore Roose- 
velt and his war secretary as, four or five weeks 
later, a press announcement from Washington con- 
veyed the information that the War Department had 
rescinded its former decision to permit allotments 
to be made on the Fort Sill military reservation. A 
copy of this letter may be found in the annual report 
of the Adjutant General of Oklahoma, for the year 
1902, and is reproduced hereinafter. 

A year or two later, Lieutenant-General Nelson A. 
Miles paid a visit to Fort Sill and a year or two after 
that, Secretary of War William H. Taft visited the 
post and inspected the site. During the administra- 
tion of President Taft, the buildings of the new post 
were erected. During the World War, the Fort Sill 
reservation was selected as the great military train- 
ing camp, designated as Camp Doniphan. Fort Sill 
and its reservation is also the site of one of the citi- 
zens’ military training camps, held annually, and also 
of the annual encampment of the Oklahoma National 
Guard. 

The old post which was built in the early ’sev- 
enties has been used for the school of field artillery 
for the United States Army, since the erection of the 
new post. Fort Sill is accounted a brigade post, 
usually having two or more regiments of artillery in 
garrison. It is picturesquely situated near the eastern 
base of the Wichita mountains. The noted Medicine 
Bluffs—a series of three basaltic cliffs, form one of 
its most striking landscape features. Around these 
cluster several fascinatingly romantic Indian legends 
which pertain to the past. At the foot of these de- 
clivities and past the post, flow the limpid waters 
of Medicine Bluff Creek. There are many other places 
of scenic and sentimental interest upon the reserva- 
tion. ———— 
A Memorial To The War Department. 

The Hon. Elihu C. Root, Secretary of War, 
Washington, D. C. 

Sir:—The undersigned, composing a committee duly 
appointed to represent the officers of the Oklahoma 
National Guard would most respectfully beg leave to 
address you in regard to a matter of deepest inter- 
est and concern to them, namely, the preservation 


Okla—57 


897 


and improvement of the miltary post and reservation 
known as Fort Sill, in Comanche County, Oklahoma. 

We first desire to call to your attention the fact 
that this reservation embraces a tract of land ap- 
proximately fifty thousand acres, and that it joins 
the Wichita Mountain Forest Reserve which has an 
approximate area of fifty-eight thousand acres; that 
the two reservations, with an aggregate area of nearly 
one hundred and ten thousand acres include lands 
of every class and character, from that of the smooth- 
est upland prairie and alluvial creek bottom to the 
roughest and most rugged type of granitic mountain 
formation; that these reservations have a fair timber 
supply and a water supply unsurpassed in both quality 
and quantity, all of which are necessary elements 
in an ideal military training ground. 

While it is true that, in the matter of accessibility 
by rail, this tract has been lacking the necessary fa- 
cilities for rapid concentration of troops, yet, in this 
respect conditions are being greatly improved, two 
railroad lines now passing through the Fort Sill re- 
servation, while others are now under construction 
to points adjoining. 

The time will come, and that before many years, 
when the tract embraced in these two reserv:i.tions 
will be the most available, for the encampment and 
maneuvering of a large body of troops, of any in the 
Central West, not alone because of its size, but also 
because of its natural resources and the varied char- 
acter of its surface. 

We have learned from press reports that the cap- 
tive Apaches known as Geronimo’s Band, are to re- 
ceive allotments on the Fort Sill reservation. We 
have also learned from reliable sources that the Okla- 
homa Department of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic is making, or is about to make, an effort to secure 
the donation of the site and post building of Fort 
Sill for a State soldiers’ home. 

Our purpose in thus addressing you is to urge upon 
you the wisdom and expediency of preserving intact 
the Fort Sill reservation. It is true that, as:a strate- 
gic center, it is no longer a necessity, owing to the 
pacification of the Indians of the Plains, yet we trust 
that inasmuch as the surrounding States have each 
from one to three permanent military posts, Okla- 
homa may have at least one. Fort Gibson, Fort 
Arbuckle, and Fort Supply, and the names of sev- 
eral camps and cantonments of lesser note, are but 
memories of our little known frontier military his- 
tory and, even now, Fort Reno is scarcely to be 
regarded in the light of a possibility as a permanent 
military pest. Under these circumstances we believe 
that the Fort Sill post should not only be maintained 
but enlarged and improved. 

If the members of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic want to secure the donation of the site and build- 
ings of Fort Reno for a Soldiers’ Home we have no 
objection whatever, but we do believe that, if the 


“Dick Bill,’ now pending before Congress, is to be- 


come a law, and the National Guard of this and sur- 
rounding States is to become the efficient body that 
it should, no donations or transfers of any part of 
Fort Sill reservation should be made by the War 
Department. 

We do not wish to crowd out Geronimo and his 
people, but, as this reservation is far removed from 
their original habitat, there is no more reason in 
sentiment than in necessity for assigning allotments 
to them in that particular locality. If the Govern- 
ment has public lands to dispose of at Fort Reno, or 
elsewhere, there is no reason why such allotments 
have to be made on the Fort Sill reservation. 

Trusting that you may give this matter your care- 
ful consideraticn, and being confident that your action 
will be guided by what is best for the united service 
of the regular establishment and the militia, we are, 
Sir, Very truly, 

E. H. JAYNE, 
Major 1st Infantry, Ok. N. G. Pres. 
Jo Se LHOBURN: 


Capt. ist Battery Ok. N. G. 
F. W. HUNTER, 
First Lieut. and Adjt. Ok. N. G. 
Recorder. 


—Annual Report of the Adutant General of Okla- 
homa Territory, 1902, pp. 56-58. 


898 APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XLIV—1. 
SIDNEY CLARKE’S SPEECH. 


“Mr. President: I protest against the passage of 
this bill, ‘providing for the Location, Erection, Man- 
agement and Control of a Territorial Penitentiary, a 
Territorial Asylum for the Insane, a _ Territorial 
Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, and a Terri- 
torial Reform School for Boys and Girls, for the fol- 
lowing reasons: 

“Ist. Because the location of these institutions at 
this time under the provisions of this bill is ill- 
advised and unnecessary. 

“2d. Because under the pretense of making a direct 
appropriation of only _ $130,000, a debt against the 
Territory and future State of Oklahoma, of several 
million dollars is really initiated, and avenues of cor- 
ruption, speculation and innumerable frauds are 
opened to public officers not elected by, or responsible 
to, the people and taxpayers. 

“3d. Because the past history of Territorial ad- 
ministrations in Oklahoma shows that Federal officers 
have frequently disregarded existing laws, lavishly 
expended the public moneys in violation thereof, and 
in many matters connected with the erection and con- 
trol of our public institutions, proved unworthy of 
the trust committed to their charge. 

“4th. Because under the Act of Congress, the money 
derived from Section 33 was intended to be applied, 
in the first instance, in the erection of the Capitol 
Building, which on the admission of the Territory as 
a State, becomes the first necessity, and that, there- 
fore, the provisions of this bill are a practical nulli- 
fication of the will of Congress. 

“5th. Because the outstanding indebtedness of the 
Territory at the close of business, January 17, 1901, 
was $413,448.44. That an additional indebtedness 
of $80,494.37 would exceed the one per cent. limita- 
tion prescribed by the third Section of the Act of 
Congress of July 30, 1886. This excess of the legal 
limit of indebtedness has, in my judgment, been 
reached by debts already contracted by the Territory, 
and certain appropriations of revenues authorized by 
this bill would be null and void. 

“6th. Because the bill was not read or considered 
in the Committee of the Whole in the Council as pro- 
vided by parliamentary rules, and because members 
of the Council were denied the opportunity to con- 
sider it by sections, and propose amendment to the 
same; and because the previous question was moved, 
entertained by the Chairman of the Committee of the 
Whole and adopted by the supporters of the bill, in 
direct violation of Robert’s Rules of Order, which are 
the rules of the Council. 

“7th. Because it creates a host of appointive office- 
holders, to be selected by the Governor at a time when 
the Council will not be in session, and hence will 
have no voice in rejecting the nominations of incom- 
petent or corrupt men. 

“8th. Because of its illegal, loose and inconsistent 
provisions and the questionable parliamentary meth- 
ods connected with its passage by the Council, it will 
eventually lead to protracted litigation in the courts. 

“9th. Because of the use of such questionable 
methods in a matter of local legislation, such a de- 
fiance of the rights and interests of the people will 
greatly injure the fair name of Oklahoma abroad and 
result in restrictive measures by Congress in grant- 
ing lands to the future State. 

“10th. Because the location of a reform school for 
boys and girls in one building, as provided in this 
bill, would be a gross outrage against public and 
private morality, a reflection on the intelligence and 
character of the Legislative Assembly, and would re- 
sult in the complete destruction of all reformatory 
eure among the boys and girls of such an insti- 
ution. 

“11th. Because the contracts authorized by the bill 
are not properly guarded, and the expenditure of the 
appropriation would be subject to the greed of con- 
tractors, directors, superintendents and agents. 

“12th. Because in founding the penal and charitable 
institutions of what is destined to be a great State, 
the general interests of the great body of people 
would be paramount to petty local interests and legis- 
lative schemes to provide the same. 

“Mr. President, the passage of this bill will inflict 
an unparalleled outrage upon the people of Oklahoma. 


The pathway its promoters and supporters have 
marked out for themselves will be strewn with politi- 
cal wrecks and dead men’s bones. The men who pay 
the taxes, the men who are careful of the financial 
reputation and character of our beloved Oklahoma; 
the men who live on the farms and are out of debt 
because of the generosity of the Government of the 
United States in enacting the Free Homes Bill the 
men who live in cabins and the dugouts, struggling 
in their manhood to support their wives and their 
families, with the hope of a brighter future, will hear 
and read of the great wrong you are about to per- 
petrate. They will condemn it in their homes and 
they will exercise their right of independent free- 
men in rebuking it in no uncertain terms. 

“For the reasons I have stated, and for a multitude 
of other reasons not set forth in this protest, I vote 
‘no’ on the passage of this bill.” 


APPENDIX XLV—1. 
A STATEHOOD PETITION. 


“To the Congress of the United States: 

“The people of Oklahoma Territory, without dis- 
tinction of party assembled in convention at Oklahoma 
City, on December 15, 1891, hereby submit to the 
Congress of the United States the following statement 
of facts relating to the condition of the Territory and 
the section of country occupied by the five civilized 
tribes, and in behalf of the passage of an enabling 
act provided for the admission of Oklahoma as a State: 

“That area of the old Indian Territory comprises 
68,991 square miles or 44,154,240 acres of land: 

“That this area is exceeded by only fourteen States 
of the Union, and that, in fertility of soil and its ca- 
pacity for agricultural and mineral production, is not 
excelled by any other section of the United States; 

“That the Committee on Territories of the House of 
Representatives of the Fifty-first Congress reported 
that ‘excluding the full-blood Indians there are in the 
Indian Territory and Oklahoma about 247,200 people, 
who are either white or mixed blood, but who in per- 
sonal appearance and in their habits and customs and 
in their intelligence do not differ materially from the 
people who inhabit other parts of the United States;’ 

“That since said report was made the Indian title 
to more than 5,000,000 acres of land in Oklahoma Ter- 
ritory has been extinguished, and has been opened and 
is about to be opened to settlement, adding, with the 
increase of other sections, not less than 50,000 to our 
ed tet edad and increasing the sum total to about 
300,000; 

“That the opening to settlement of other lands in 
the near future will only be, in rapidity of settle- 
ment, a repetition of settlements already made, and 
that, before the expiration of the present Congress, 
there will be in Oklahoma and the Indian Territory a 
population of half a million people; 

“That the population of Oklahoma Territory proper 
by the Federal census of 1890, before the opening of 
new lands, was 61,934, which exceeds the population 
of either of the states of Illinois, Ohio, Nevada, Ore- 
gon, and Wyoming at the time they were admitted as 
States, and that not a single Territory, with the ex- 
ception of Washington and South Dakota, has had a 
population equal to Oklahoma, with the Five Tribes 
included, when admitted to the rights and privileges 
of statehood; 

“That the rapid settlement and development of Okla- 
homa has been exceptional. Cities have been born in a 
day, and vast areas in the public domain have been as 
speedily occupied by an industrious and thriving pop- 
ulation. A single year has witnessed more develop- 
ment in Oklahoma than has taken place in any other 
Territory in a whole decade; 

“That, in the interest of good government, all of the 
old Indian Territory should be included in the future 
State of Oklahoma, and that by so doing there will be 
no conflict with treaty stipulations and no infringe- 
ment upon the rights or property of the Indian tribes; 

“That, following the uniform precedents established 
by Congress in the admission of States, we favor the 
protection of the Indians in all their legal and equi- 
table rights under the treaties and agreements. We 
believe, in the language of President Harrison in his 
recent message that, ‘The relation of the five civilized 
tribes now occupying the Indian Territory to the 


APPENDIX 


United States. . - is not best calculated to pro- 
mote the highest advancement of these Indians. That 
there should be within our borders five independent 
states, having no relations except those growing out 
of treaties with the Government of the United States, 
no representation in the Nation’s legislation, its peo- 
ple not citizens, is a startling anomaly.’ And we fur- 
ther agree with the President that ‘it seems to be in- 
evitable that there shall be before long some organic 
changes in relation to these people.’ We believe these 
changes should come through statehood, citizenship, 
equitable laws, home courts, prompt suppression of 
crime, and equal representation. 

“That, while we are at all times loyal to the Fed- 
eral Government, and fully recognize the constitu- 
tional power of Congress to enact laws for the gov- 
ernment of the Territories, we seek self-government 
and home rule as a necessity for our full measure of 
prosperity, and as a part of the pride and glory of all 
patriotic citizens; 

“That here as in the other Territories, the divided 
jurisdiction between Congress and the Territorial 
Legislature is an impediment to the investment of 
capital, to the permanency of manufacturing and bus- 
iness enterprises, and inefficient and unsatisfactory in 
the protection of life and property; 

“That we have more than 1,000 miles of railway 
now in operation, other lines in progress of construc- 
tion, and with the confidence that would be assured 
by the passage of an enabling act by Congress pro- 
viding for the formation of a State government, many 
more lines would be projected. 

“We therefore declare that, in view of the extent 
of territory we ask to be included within the geo- 
graphical limits of the State of Oklahoma, the num- 
ber of population, the variety and magnificence of our 
material resources, the business, educational, religious, 
and social conditions which exist here, and the 
aggressive and enterprising character of our people, 
the time has come for Congress to pass an enabling act 
as herein indicated, and that at an early day we 
should be permitted to throw off our Territorial pupil- 
age and assume the dignity and responsibility of a 
sovereign State. 

CJ. ©.) GANH, 


“President of the Convention. 
“T, M. UPSHAW, 
“Secretary of the Convention.” 


In addition to the foregoing memorial, the following 
resolution was also adopted: 

“Resolved, That an executive committee, to be com- 
posed of one member from each county, be appointed 
by the chair, whose duty it shall be to prepare an 
enabling act providing for the admission of Okla- 
homa as a State, to include all of the Indian Terri- 
tory within its geographical boundaries, to collect the 
necessary statistics and information in support of 
said act, and to present the same, together with the 
proceedings of this convention, to the Congress of the 
United States. 

“Resolved, That our delegate in Congress be re- 
quested to introduce and support said organic act.” 


APPENDIX XLV—2. 
ROLEY McINTOSH GIVES GOOD REASONS. 


“Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: 
Having been permitted to speak, I am pleased to ad- 
dress you this morning. Several gentlemen have 
talked to the committee on the subject of the Indian 
question. Many of them seem to be lawyers, men of 
fine address. I do not fully know what they have said, 
still I know that they have been talking about the 
Indian people in the Indian Territory, and that being 
the case, I, being a full-blood Indian, want to say a 
few words. I am not a trained lawyer. I have no 
English education, and I wish you to hear me leniently 
and not to expect any hair-splitting arguments from 
me. 

*“T am a full-blood Indian. The Indians, as you 
know, are hunters. I am a hunter myself. I like the 
chase. The educated man hunts sometimes. He has 
fine arms. His guns and weapons are of fine mate- 
rial, and they do great execution. I myself, as an 
Indian, do not know anything but the bow and arrow. 
It is true I have gotten out of that, but in what I 


899 


have now to say, my arms will be my bow and arrow. 
In hunting the game that we shoot, we have to expend 
Many arrows and many bullets when the game is 
large. But the game in this particular case seems to 
be very small game, and I do not think that I need 
to expend a great deal of ammunition upon it. I ask 
this question to commence with: How do the United 
States look upon, and what do the United States think 
about, these five civilized tribes of Indians down 
there? I believe that the United States have recog- 
nized that we are a Nation. The evidence of that, 
so far as I am concerned is the fact that you have 
made treaties with us; and you have seemed dis- 
posed, and from time to time, to comply with these 
treaties. I cannot give statistics, I cannot give dates, 
but you yourselves, gentlemen, will know when the 
United States first commenced making treaties and 
agreements with us as a Nation. What the gentle- 
men from Oklahoma have said here has been inter- 
preted to me, and to tell the truth I really pity those 
gentlemen. As I have told you, I am an old Indian, 
and I only know one way; and when you make a 
contract with me, I expect you to stand by it. I 
know that you have agreed with me (that is, with 
the Creek Nation) that, in no time, shall that country 
be included within the bounds and limits of any 
State: and I am perfectly satisfied that you will live 
up to that. 


“It has been told to me that one of the Oklahoma 
gentlemen here has said that a large number of white 
people have got in among the civilized tribes, and 
that those people are lawless, and that our country is 
a harbor for bad white people, and all that sort of 
thing; and I have been told that that has been urged 
here as a reason or argument why that country should 
be included in the State of Oklahoma. There are those 
in our country who are there in accordance with our 
laws, Cherokee laws, Creek laws, and other laws. 
Some are adopted, some are there under permit, and 
some are there as tenants; but the lawless and bad 
elements down there are people who are there not 
according to any law of ours. And why are they 
here? You have agreed in treaties with us that you 
would protect us against intruders; and they are 
there today because you do not carry out that treaty. 

“Then, again, there is not any very great matter 
against us because of lawlessness down there, for the 
simple reason that there is no State, no country, no 
county, where there are not lawless people and where 
there is no crime. There is no such country. These 
lawless people are to be found in all countries and in 
all States. They are the people who cause the making 
of laws. If we had no lawlessness there would be no 
need of laws. They almost make States; they make 
governments, and if it were not for the fact that there 
were lawless people, there would be no government, 
there would be no law, and no officers, and no army, 
for the simple reason that there would be no need 
of any. 

“The talks of these gentlemen from Oklahoma, as 
they have been interpreted to me, lead me to believe 
that that is what they are working for. There is 
some lawlessness down there, and the lawyers (for I 
believe that there are many lawyers out there) are 
having a dearth of business and are anxious to get at 
these people down there. They purpose to catch us 
in their scheme and to give us trouble; but we are 
not giving anybody else any trouble. That seems to 
me to be the case. 

“Texas wants to take us down to Paris, and Kan- 
sas wants to take us to Wichita, and Arkansas wants 
to take us to Fort Smith, and now here is Oklahoma 
holding us on this side. That places us in a very 
awkward position, and shows, as I think, just about 
what the case is. But I feel safe. I think that jus- 
tice and honesty will prevail and I am not much 
afraid. 

“T have read this bill. That is, it has been inter- 
preted to me. I understand that there is a provision 
in it which includes us in the State of Oklahoma, but 
goes on and provides that nothing in the bill shall 
be construed as to interfere with the tribal organiza- 
tions of the Indians. You cannot pass this bill and 
not violate the treaty or not interfere with our tribal 
organizations. We have sold you this land. Your 


900 


people are there. If they want a State let them make 
a State and leave us alone. 


“You see that I am a full-blood Indian. I told you 
that I was. Our language is different. You cannot 
understand me and I cannot understand you. ITama 
different kind of a person from you. But how came 
we in that way? The Power that is above us intended 
that we should be thus and that is why it is so. I 
think that you, gentlemen, know who were first on 
this continent. If you look up history you will find 
that the Indian was here first. A white man by the 
name of Columbus came here and found the Indians 
here. If you came here and found a happy race of 
people, and if they had done nothing special to cause 
you to extinguish them, and if they are still struggling 
for existence, a great nation like you can not afford 
to crush out such people. Why should you? 

“When the Great Power above us created you and 
created us, it created us different from each other. 
Our customs were different and all our habits were 
different. He made us in that way. And having done 
that I cannot see that it is right for one to extinguish 
the other. I do not think it is right and I do not 
think that He ever intended it. 

“We have representatives here from the five civil- 
ized tribes, or from most of them. They have no 
fears that the great Government of the United States 
would override the treaties which it has entered into 
with them, by passing such a bill as this. I have no 
fears of that sort, nor have the members of the other 
delegations. 

“This matter has been up before the committee for 
several days. It has been shot at, and wounded, and 
bruised in all shapes, until now it is pretty well un- 
derstood; and I do not think of taking up much more 
of the time of the committee, but I want to say one 
thing. The gentlemen from Oklahoma seem to be 
anxious to form a State government. Indeed I think 
it is simply a scheme to get up offices for some of 
these people down there. Let them go on and do 
that for themselves; but let them leave us out. We 
have a free system of government, and have had it 
for years, and we must insist upon not being included 
in the proposed State of Oklahoma. 

“Bear with me a little longer. There was a good 
deal said about a class of people in the Indian coun- 
try who could not be reached by law. I want to 
speak on that point a moment. We have your deputy 
marshals all over our country—United States deputy 
marshals. We see them every day. And in all the 
little towns of the Creek Nation we have officers ap- 
pointed by the Interior Department, who are known 
as Indian police, and who are also conservators of 
law and order. There are so many of those United 
States deputy marshals, and Indian policemen there, 
under appointment from the Government of the 
United States, that they hardly have criminals enough 
to catch. Sometimes these deputy marshals have 
trouble among themselves. One will say, ‘I had a 
writ for that fellow and you have gone and caught 
him.’ There is no disposition down there to violate 
the law or to kill off the people as the gentleman 
(Mr. Speed) said there was. My own observation is 
that we have down there quite as much law and order 
as you have in the average State of this Union. Of 
course we have our share of lawlessness, as you have 
in your own States, but I know of no place where 
there is a disposition on the part of the authorities 
or of the people there to be lawless, and to kill off 
deputy marshals and people who are engaged in the 
suppression of crime. That is a large extent of 
country, and one cannot go over it and know every- 
thing that is going on in it, and for that reason the 
gentlemen from Oklahoma and elsewhere who have 
charged us with much lawlessness are mistaken. 
They have not seen it. They have been perhaps in 
some little locality where there was much lawless- 
ness, and they have seen that and have projected it 
upon the public as an indication of the general state 
of affairs there. But that is not the case.” 


APPENDIX XLV—3. 
SENATOR PLATT’S REMARKS ON STATEHOOD. 


“These Indians came from east of the Mississippi; 
they came to fertile lands. They had in addition to 


APPENDIX 


these jiands a vast tract west of them, which is now 
the Territory of Oklahoma by reason of the fact that 
they have sold their land. They commenced their 
government as an Indian community, pure and simple; 
they formed their constitution as Indians; they or- 
ganized their courts as Indians; they passed their 
first body of laws as Indians, isolated, far away from 
white settlements, and away beyond the line where 
it was supposed that white civilization and white en- 
terprise would go within a century, and there was to 
be worked out the problem whether the Indian by 
himself was capable of self-government and of ad- 
vancement in civilization and progress until he should 
become thoroughly dissociated from his former In- 
dian customs and barbarism. In other words, the 
United States guaranteed to these Indians that they 
should have the opportunity to try that experiment, 
believing that they were capable of doing it. 

“The whole guaranty turned upon the idea of giv- 
ing the Indian a chance by himself to maintain a 
republican government without the interference of 
white people, without the baleful influence of white 
people exerted over him, far removed from any possi- 
bility of the greed of the white people. These In- 
dians, like other Indians, felt that the white people 
were crowding them in their old homes: were taking 
away from them not only their lands, but their cher- 
ished customs and privileges. Therefore they stipu- 
lated with the United States that they should be per- 
mitted to govern themselves without the interference 
or aid of white people. 

“Mr. President, they have themselves. entirely 
changed the conditions under which these treaties 
were made; they have entirely destroyed the reason 
for these treaties and the spirit in which they were 


made. The Indian no longer governs himself in the 
Indian Territory. When I say that, it needs a little 
explanation. 


‘“By the laws which have been passed among these 
civilized tribes any white man who marries an Indian 
woman having sufficient Indian blood to be entitled to 
be a citizen of the Nation becomes to all intents and 
purposes an Indian for all the purposes of government; 
the white person intermarrying becomes an Indian. 
So from small beginnings, where perhaps no particular 
disadvantage arose from this adoption of white peo- 
ple who intermarried, the matter has gone on until 
now the white Indians are in control, and the real 
Indian has little or nothing to say in those govern- 
ments. Instead of being Indian Republics, they are 
white oligarchies. Other laws which they have passed 
have enabled these white Indians to acquire all the 
most valuable lands. 


“There is no such landlordism and tenancy existing 
anywhere in the world that I know of as in this In- 
dian Territory. The laws which have been passed 
enable any Indian to occupy any unoccupied land. 
So these white people, these white Indians, have prac- 
tically occupied all the land of the Territory. 

“Some instances might be interesting, Mr. Presi- 
dent. Along the line of the Chicago & Rock Island 
Railroad, running through the western part of the 
Choctaw country, there are probably 50,000 white 
people. They have settled there within the last three 
years. In all that country tributary to the railroad 
I suppose there are not 300 Indians. A single in- 
stance will show how the white people have absorbed 
the lands of the Indian Territory to the exclusion of 
the Indians. At a town named Duncan there was a 
Scotchman by the name of Duncan who had a trading 
post. There was also a white woman there who had 
been the wife of an Indian, but whose husband had 
died. The white woman, by marrying the Indian, 
became an Indian citizen. Then, when she became a 
widow, Mr. Duncan, the Scotchman, married her. By 
that means he became an Indian. 


“Mr. Peffer: Both white? 
“Mr. Platt: Both white; not one drop of Indian 
blood in the veins of either. These two persons, hus- 


band and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, have 17,000 
acres of land under cultivation and grazing by their 
right of occupancy as Indians. They have also a 
town of 1,500 inhabitants, the right to occupy which 
is conveyed by Mr. Duncan, and the yearly rents for 
occupation amount, I suppose, to from five to seven 
thousand dollars. As in that nation an equal division 


APPENDIX 


of the lands would give to the Chickasaw Indians 647 
acres of land each, it will be observed that such a 
large holding by two persons absolutely deprives 
more than twenty-five other Indians of any opportu- 
nity whatever to occupy any land in that Nation. 

a want to say here in regard to Mr. Duncan that I 
believe him to be one of the best of the white Indians 
in the Indian Territory. The observations which I have 
made with reference to the cupidity, the greed, and 
the vicious practices of these white Indians do not 
apply to him—at any rate not to any such extent as 
they do to others. 

“Mr. President, what has become of the Indian 
in the meanwhile? The full-blood Indian, when 
he entered that Territory had little idea of agricul- 
ture. He desired the mountains where game was 
abundant, and where the natural scenery coincided 
with his imagination. So the Indians settled in the 
mountains and in the hill country. While these white 
men, calling themselves Indians and running the In- 
dian government as Indian citizens, are thus amassing 
wealth in almost fabulous amounts, the real Indian is 
away in the hills. He has perhaps two or three acres 
of arable land which he occupies. He raises, in a very 
rude way, some corn on those two or three acres. He 
pounds it in a stone mortar and mixes it with ashes, 
and that, with what he can get by hunting and per- 
haps by the raising of a few pigs and chickens, con- 
stitutes not only his entire wealth, but his only oppor- 
tunity for subsistence. The possibility of his obtain- 
ing agricultural land and learning to cultivate it no 
longer exists, and it cannot exist while these white 
Indians maintain their immense holdings. The civ- 
ilization, which it has been fondly hoped the Indian 
would attain to in consequence of the allotment of 
land to him, has become absolutely impossible. The 
land, which he ought to have, is held by these feudal 
lords under the sanction of the Indian governments, 
which they have obtained and maintained. 

“Under the condition which I have been describing— 
and no man dare paint it in its true colors for fear he 
will not be believed—the real Indian is not only ar- 
rested in the progress of civilization, but he is actu- 
ally deteriorating and returning to barbarism. Yet 
we are told that we must keep faith with the Indians 
and that we must not meddle with these Indian 
republics! 

“As I said, Mr. President, the spirit of that guar- 
antee and the reason for it and the value of it have 
gone long ago by the acts of the Indians themselves. 
So far as the Indians are concerned, the laws are made 
in their legislatures by the influence of white men 
exerted as I have described; the laws are admin- 
istered in the Indian courts by the influence of the 
white men and by the methods which I have de- 
scribed; but the republican government, the courts, 
the machinery for the administration of justice are as 
bare of life as a skeleton. The life, liberty, and prop- 
erty of the real Indians are without protection in 
those governments. The very spirit of the govern- 
ment has been destroyed; the object of the govern- 
ment has been perverted. 


“But, Mr. President, there are two parties to a 
treaty, and when one party breaks it there certainly 
ean be no obligation on the other party to maintain 
it. Every vital clause of these treaties has been 
broken or overridden by the Indians themselves, 
They received the lands by patents to their tribe. In 
some of the patents it was expressed and in other 
cases it was expressed in the treaty that the land 
was to be held for the equal benefit of each member 
of the tribe. I do not give the exact language, but 
that is the substance of it. Yet the Indians them- 
selves have put those lands in the hands of a few 
white people and have practically excluded the large 
body of the Indians from participation in them. Nev- 
ertheless it is said that the treaty must be kept; that 
faith must be kept with the Indians; that the treaty 
binds the Government of the United States, and that 
the Indian government must not be interfered with. 
Why? In order that the white Indians may still hold 
on to their spoils! 

“The United States, I think, is not only no longer 
bound to keep the treaty, so far as this particular 
matter is concerned, but in my opinion it is bound 
to step in and execute the trust which was created by 


gol 


the conveyance of the land to the tribe or Nation for 
the common benefit of all. A trust went with it—a 
trust that those governments should see to it that no 
man got the benefit of the land to the exclusion of 
the others. If the chief of one of the nations had 
seized all the land in the nation for himself it would 
be no more a violation of the treaty on the part of 
the Indians than what has taken place under the laws 
which they have passed. Yet I imagine that even 
the most sentimental philanthropists would scarcely 
hold that we should keep the treaty with the Indians 
if one man had seized all the land. The present situ- 
ation comes pretty near to that condition. The com- 
mission reports that in one of the tribes, whose whole 
territory consists of but 3,040,000 acres, within the 
last few years laws have been enacted under which 
sixty-one citizens have appropriated to themselves 
and are now holding for pasturage and cultivation of 
1,237,000 acres. 

“What was the treaty? What did the Indians stip- 
ulate in the treaty? What duty was put upon them 
to observe? That the lands should be held for equal 
benefit of all? When sixty-one persons get practically 
half of the land in one of these nations and two-thirds 
on all the arable and grazing land, is there any longer 
reason why the United States should keep its guar- 
antee to those people that they shall have the right of 
self-government? I think, too, that when the Indians 
have so far failed to maintain a proper government 
that the life, liberty, and property of the Indian is no 
longer safe under its laws or in the administration of 
its justice they have also violated the treaty. 

“Tf it were not expressed, it was at least implied 
that the government should be for the benefit of all 
the people, and it was stipulated that no laws should 
be passed by the Indian governments which were con- 
trary to the Constitution of the United States. The 
laws which they have passed may not be contrary to 
the letter of the Constitution of the United States, 
but they are in absolute defiance of the spirit of the 
Constitution; and even the laws for the protection 
of life, person, and property which have been passed 
are not executed and are not pretended to be executed, 
except where it suits these lords of the soil that they 
shall be executed. 

“T think I have said all I desire to say to show the 
importance of this subject, and to show that the Gov- 
ernment can no longer rest quiet and secure upon its 
original proposition that it leave the government of 
the Indians to the governments which they should 
erect. There is a higher faith to be kept with the 
Indians that the letter of the treaties which they have 
violated, and which, to keep further, will relegate the 
Indians to barbarism. If when we made those trea- 
ties we absolved ourselves from all obligations to the 
Indian to look after him, to care for him, to see that 
he enjoyed his rights, to see that he advanced along 
the road of civilization, then, possibly, the arguments 
may be still held up to see that we have nothing to 
do except to keep faith with the Indian, so far as the 
letter of the treaty is concerned, and let him go to 
destruction. But I apprehend that we have a higher 
duty than that toward the Indians. I apprehend that 
it is the duty of the United States to take care of them 
still; to see that they are not despoiled of their lands 
by those white people whom they have admitted to 
Indian citizenship; to see that life, liberty, and prop- 
erty are still protected in those nations, and that the 
Indians shall still have the opportunity and be en- 
couraged to make progress rather than that they 
shall go steadily back to that barbarism from which 
we have attempted to raise them.” 


APPENDIX XLV—4. 


“SINGLE STATEHOOD RESOLUTIONS OF THE OK- 
LAHOMA CITY COMMERCIAL CLUB. 


“To the Oklahoma City Commercial Club: 

“Your committee on State and National legislation 
beg leave to submit the following resolution: 

“Be it resolved, That we regard the question of 
statehood as of overwhelming importance to the peo- 
ple of Oklahoma and Indian Territory: not only to 
those now living, but all the unborn generations. 
Whether statehood shall come this year or the next, 
we regard as of infinitesimal importance when com- 
pared with the question whether we shall have one 


go2 


cr two States. We favor the creation of only one 
State out of both Territories for the following reasons: 
“Pirst. When combined as one State its area as 
compared with the other Western States would be 
small. The areas in square miles of the States and 
Territories west of the Mississippi are as follows: 


“Oklahoma, 39,000; Indian ‘Territory, 31,400; the 
aggregate area, 70,400. 
Win NSO, Meters evaie chs cl clwlors tain ielelelsterere 83,365 
ATEANSES leccicn siete SOOO CIO OYE 53,850 
IMTSSOULL Ey ctets sreleet el tlelele ts siete wislul oisrers 69,415 
LOW roel steie ates cree Sok diateltete never evel arene 56,025 
North) DakOta;, vaDOULMaswisise selesies 75,000 
South Dakotarapoutes vee cere sister 75,000 
Nebraska “ito. aha love acai h ate teneiene ate 77,510 
FR TIS SSIs acts crater caste oleate ateletehsnttstenene 82,080 
TROScASaeeeleh eyo tet entes Be iene alte ete ne see OOF LOO. 
ING We DLGXICON. crclnislalecmiente sicls's welelsy LALO 
Arizona wieie ce etait state Sieleieinis ere ai nied Mae LosOe0 
Colorado 22s. cig eters ett Meine be LOS. 20 
Ute wes sirecaiele srevciotercta Tereioaicve ie cetate 84,970 
TAaAHO Vere storiere Sabir wat aisle sieteteie.s 84,800 
Montana as mteimune-s Gslsie oe sxevele tere etal sremeL SO, ORO 
W ashine toni <i cusses arcicto emesis s 69,181 
Oreronw.tiaueicins a ee latat oie Wb eo leaeere He 96,030 
CaliLOVnia yids sists atelier gisisiets sericea LOL OCS 


“It will thus be seen that of the eighteen States 
named, fourteen have a larger area than that of the 
two Territories combined: Missouri and Washington 
about the same, and Arkansas and Iowa a few square 
miles less, so that the two Territories combined have 
an area of 25,171 square miles less than the average 
of the Western States. Oklahoma alone has an area of 
56,571 square miles less than the average. If com- 
bined, the two Territories will only make a fair-sized 
State. If divided, they will both be pigmies. 

“Second. To impose upon this small area the burden 
of supporting two separate and distinct State govern- 
ments would render taxation oppressive. As one 
State the cost of maintaining the State government 
and institutions would be very little more than the 
cost of maintaining each of the separate State gov- 
ernments. 

“Third. In our judgment it is the desire of not less 
than 90 per cent. of the taxpayers that we should 
have single statehood. 

“Fourth. The geographical situation is such as to 
make nature herself an eloquent spokesman in favor 
of single statehood. This entire area was originally 
embraced within the boundaries of the Indian Terri- 
tory. Upon the map she now has the appearance of 
sitting in the lap of the Indian Territory. The two 
are wedged together; they have the same railroad 
Systems; they have a homogeneous population. The 
mere geography of the country argues for single 
statehood. 

“Fifth. The resources of the two Territories cry 
aloud for union. Oklahoma is almost wholly agricul- 
tural. The great wealth of the Indian Territory is in 
her mines and forests. With the product of the farm, 
the forest, and the mine allied in common cause of 
building up one State, immediate success and immense 
achievements are sure to follow. 

“Sixth. It has always been the contemplation of 
Congress that this entire area should be one State. 
Section I of the Organic Act, being the act of May 2, 
1890, after describing by crooked and devious lines 
the boundaries of Oklahoma, contains the following 
provisions: 

**Any other lands within the Indian Territory not 
embraced within these boundaries shall hereafter be- 
come a part of the Territory of Oklahoma whenever 
the Indian Nation or tribe owning said lands shall 
Signify to the President of the United States, in legal 
manner, its assent that such lands shall so become a 
part of said Territory of Oklahoma, and the President 
of the United States shall thereupon make procla- 
mation to that effect.’ 

“Seventh. We favor single statehood because we 
believe that with the natural resources of the two 
Territories combined we can erect a commonwealth 
which will be a pride to the Union, a source of grat- 
ification and of prosperity to ourselves, and a rich 
heritage to our posterity. 


APPENDIX 


“Be it further resolved, That it is our desire that 
Congress, in legislating upon this subject, should be 
fair toward the people of the Indian Territory. We 
think they are entitled to a voice in the location of 
all public institutions, in the formation and adoption 
of our organic law, and in the initial steps leading 
up to the Union. 

“We do most earnestly, persistently, and respectfully 
petition Congress to heed the wisdom of the people 
of the two Territories on this question; to legislate 
not for the present but for the vast and unlimited 
future; to ignore party lines. 

“We do most strenuously protest against being 
made the toys of politicians or the tool of any political 
party. We say it is not a question of politics, but a 
question of business, of taxation, of the future. We 
are absolutely indifferent to the possible political 
complexion of the single State, but regardless of 
political considerations, we wish that legislation which 
will best subserve the cause of the people of these 
two Territories. 

“Be it further resolved, That the secretary of this 
club have 500 copies of these resolutions printed, and 
from that number he shall furnish a copy to each 
member of the Senate and of the House of Represen- 
tatives. 

“Respectfully submitted, 
“Cc. B. AMES, Chairman; 
‘“R. E. CAMPBELL, 
“and FRANK WELLS, 
“Committee on State and National Legislation.” 

“T want to facilitate the consideration of this bill as 
much as possible, and as I have already spoken in the 
general debate I have very little to add, except that I 
want to call the attention of members of the House to 
the map before us, so as to show the relation of these 
two Territories, one to the other, and thus get a 
clearer idea of what is involved in my proposition. 

“You will find the Indian Territory indicated in red 
on the east. It is only a little less in area than Okla- 
homa. It has a few thousand population less, accord- 
ing to the census of 1900, and according to the census 
it has a denser population than Oklahoma. The Indian 
Territory has twelve people to the square mile, while 
Oklahoma has only ten. They are of the same char- 
acter of people and have a common history. They 
ought to be in the same State for the good of both. 

“T submit to the House and to the country that it is 
unjust to the people of the Indian Territory to pro- 
vide for the admission of all the rest of our Terri- 
tories between the two oceans and leave this one in 
this uncertain and undesirable attitude. These people 
deserve a better fate. 

“If we are to pass the bill to admit three Terri- 
tories, then we should cover all of them by taking in 
the Indian Territory. 

‘JT do not undertake to speak for the politics of 
either of these Territories. There has been no elec- 
tion to indicate what the politics of the Indian Ter- 
ritory are, but if we take the record as to Oklahoma 
it is Republican. I make no objection on that ac- 
count, for whether they be Democratic or Republican, 
it is their right and their privilege to have admission, 
and then at their own pleasure select their affiliations. 

“IT appeal to Republicans and Democrats alike to 
consider the condition of these people. They are 
equally as worthy as the people of Oklahoma. I am 
willing for Oklahoma to take her own Governor, her 
secretary, and the Dawes Commission and hold this 
election, and hold the convention in the capital of 
Oklahoma, giving her any advantage that she can get 
out of that, but I want the Indian Territory attached 
now or never. Any other course would be unjust to 
her. With 800,000 inhabitants the two will have four 
Representatives on this floor, and they will be worthy 
of her neighbors, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Ar- 
Kansas. 

“But, my friends, if you leave them as separate 
States you will find them both lacking in many things 
necessary to make a great State. Lacking in the 
money necessary to educate their children, and if 
they are to become a great people and prosper they 
must do that. I believe if you will make this State 
you will make these people glad and do a patriotic 
duty to all the people of the Union.” 


. 
: 
. 
. 
| 
| 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XLV—5. 


RESOLUTION OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY CON- 
VENTION. 


“Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, January 6, 1908. 

“Senator Albert J. Beveridge, 

“United States Senate, Washington, D. C.: 

“At a non-partisan Inter-Territorial Statehood Con- 
vention held in this city today, participated in by 
2,000 delegates, representing practically every incor- 
porated town and many hamlets in the Indian Terri- 
tory and 20 of the 26 counties of Oklahoma, the fol- 
lowing resolutions were unanimously adopted: ; 

“We the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Terri- 
tory, assembled in delegate convention for the pur- 
pose of giving organized expression to our desire for 
statehood, again declare to the Congress that we 
favor the creation of one State out of the area now 
embraced within both these territories, and we most 
emphatically indorse the simple statehood provisions 
of the Senate Bill known as the Nelson Bill. This 
Bill is in conformity to the views we expressed in our 
Single Statehood Convention held in Muskogee in 
November, 1901, and the convention held at Claremore 
in December, 1902. All those conventions, as well as 
this one, were and are representative of the business 
interests of both Territories, and were and are the 
organized expression of the desire of the people of 
both Territories for immediate single statehood upon 
terms of justice and equality to the people of both 
Territories. We indorse the platforms adopted by 
those earlier conventions, and we now quote with our 
approval the following extract from the resolutions 
adopted by the Claremore convention: 

a ‘We, the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Ter- 
ritory, in convention assembled, confident that organic 
union is our manifest destiny, again proclaim to the 
Congress that we favor the creation of a single State 
out of the area now embraced within both these Ter- 
ritories, and we offer the following reasons in sup- 
port of our position: 

“‘Rirst, Oklahoma’s area is 39,000 square miles; 
that of the Indian Territory only 31,000 square miles. 
The average area of the states and territories west of 
the Mississippi is more than 100,000 square miles, 
while that of Texas, our next-door neighbor, is 265,- 
000. Our combined area will make less than 70 per 
cent. of the size of the average Western State, while 
taken separately, we will be the two Rhode Islands of 
the West. 

“Second. The resources of the two Territories 
complement each other. Oklahoma is almost wholly 
agricultural, while the Indian Territory is richly en- 
dowed with mineral wealth, and the combination will 
make a State unsurpassed in variety and abundance 
of natural resources. 

“*Third. Single statehood insures larger taxable 
values and consequently lower taxation. 

“‘Fourth. Single statehood eliminates a crooked, 
wandering, and fantastic boundary line which now 
divides the two Territories. 

““Fifth. Single statehood confirms and cements a 
social fellowship already established by Inter-Terri- 
torial organizations of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
South, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Episcopal 
Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Catholic Church, 
the Federation of Women’s Clubs, and the Masonic and 
other fraternities. 

“Sixth. Single statehood confirms and cements a 
business fellowship already established by Inter-Terri- 
torial organizations of the cotton-seed oil manufactur- 
ers, the lumber dealers, the ice manufacturers, the 
grain dealers, the flour manufacturers, and other busi- 
ness organizations. 

“Seventh. Single statehood, finally, insures a state 
which will quickly take high rank in this Union, and 
which we can bequeath to our posterity with pride and 
satisfaction.’ 

“We are opposed to the passage of either the Omni- 
bus or the Moon Bill, because their enactment into 
law means either double statehood or single statehood 
long deferred, and accomplished, if at all, by the at- 
tachment process. We oppose the attachment process 
because it is not necessary for the Territories, being 
ready for immediate statehood; because it is unfair to 
the Indian territory to deprive its people of all par- 


903 


ticipation in the Constitutional Convention and the 
framing of the laws and from a voice in the location of 
our public institutions. We oppose the attachment 
process for the further reason that its effect will tend 
to create a sectional line of cleavage in the State 
which might not be obliterated for generations. 

“We think we are entitled to immediate statehood— 

“First, Because it is a right guaranteed us by the 
ie with France at the time of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase. 

“Second. Because it is a right that Congress ought 
not to deny to a million free and intelligent citizens. 

a ee Because both Territories are ready for state- 
ood. 

“Fourth. Because Congress has the legal right to 
grant statehcod not only to Oklahoma but also to the 
Indian Territory. (Thomas v. Gay, 168 U. S. 264.) 

“Fifth. Because both Territories have the necessary 
population, each having about 500,000, 90 per cent. of 
whom are American citizens. 

“Sixth. Because both territories have the soil, re- 
sources, and climate to sustain this population and 
insure large and steady increase. 

“Seventh. Because both have sufficient taxable prop- 
erty to support a state government without excessive 
taxation. 

“Highth. Because the work of the Dawes Commis- 
sion has bcen so nearly completed as to no longer 
interfere with immediate statehood. That commission 
has concluded treaties with all of the Indian tribes, 
providing for the allotment in severalty of their lands, 
and authorizing the sale of all except the homestead. 
These allotments will probably be completed by the 
time a state government can be organized. The lands 
of the Creek and Seminole Nations have all been 
allotted. 

“In the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw nations 
the lands have all been surveyed and classified, and the 
work of allotment is now simply clerical and should be 
completed within twelve months. The mineral and 
asphalt lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations 
are to be sold by the Secretary of the Interior, and as 
socn as sold will of course be taxable. It, therefore, 
is beyond controversy that the work of the Dawes 
Commission no longer interferes with statehood, and 
there is abundance of taxable property. 

“Ninth. Congress can reserve such power over Indian 
affairs as it desires, and statehood will in no way 
interfere with the free action of the Interior Depart- 
ment in carrying out all the treaties between the Gov- 
ernment and the several tribes. In this opinion we are 
supported by a recent holding of Judge Hosea Town- 
send, of the southern district of the Indian Territory. 

“We urge upon the attention of Congress the fact 
that it is not a question as to whether these two Ter- 
ritories shall be united, but whether they shall be 
divided. Thousands upon thousands of our citizens 
have moved into both Territories, relying upon past 
legislation and the future wisdom of Congress as in- 
suring no division of those two Territories upon the 
arrival of ultimate statehood. 

“Section 1 of the act of May 2, 1890, 26 Statutes at 
Large, 81, known as the Organic Act, creating Okla- 
homa Territory, contains the following provision: 

“<‘Aany other lands within the Indian Territory not 
embraced within these boundaries, shall hereafter be- 
come a part of the Territory of Oklahoma whenever 
the Indian nation or tribe owning such lands shall sig- 
nify to the President of the United States in legal 
manner, its assent that such lands shall so become a 
part of said Territory of Oklahoma, and the President 
shall thereupon make proclamation to that effect.’ 

“Oklahoma as it exists today is the aggregate of 
various purchases from the several Indian tribes which 
have been opened to settlement at intervals, running 
from the 22d day of April, 1889, to the 1st day of 
August, 1901, and in view of the legislation quoted and 
the history of the organization of Oklahoma, it has 
been our well grounded belief that the Congress would 
never divide the people of these two Territories or 
undertake to create two States within their borders. 
We now feel that the passage of the Nelson Bill is 
but a fulfillment of the original promise arising out of 
the history of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, and 
that it is but a simple act of justice to the 1,000,000 
citizens now living within our borders. 

“The creation of two States out of our Territory and 


904 


the passage of the Omnibus Bill with the subsequent 
attachment to Oklahoma of the Indian Territory are 
two calamities viewed with equal abhorrence by the 
fairminded non-partisan business interests of both 
Territories. To pass the Omnibus Bill, thus giving to 
one-half of our common territory the right to frame 
the organic law and organize the State government 
and locate all public institutions, and then to attach 
the other half of our common territory with equal 
population, equal taxable wealth, and equal resources, 
is an act of such gross and palpable injustice to that 
half of the people so to be attached that we can not 
believe the statesmanship of the United States will 
ever consent to its perpetration. 

“We declare to the Congress that this question of 
statehood is one affecting our future destiny as a part 
of the great American Union, and we appeal to the 
members of that body and to the President of the 
United States to consider the case upon its merits, and 
disengage it from all entangling alliances, so that 
justice may be administered to a million people whose 
future wealth and standing as an American Common- 
wealth is of infinitely more importance than temporary 
party advantage or any unwise sectional gain result- 
ing from an increased number of United States Sen- 
ators. 

“Finally, we affirm as our deliberate and final decla- 
ration, that so far as the interests of Oklahoma and 
the Indian Territory are affected by the Omnibus Bill, 
we are unalterably opposed to its provisions, and we 
prefer absoiutely no statehood legislation to the pos- 
sage of that Bill. 

“By act of Congress passed more than two years ago 
all the Indians in the Indian Territory are made cit- 
izens of the United States, and thus their competency 
for the burdens and duties of statehood, in common 
with the other inhabitants of that Territory, has been 
settled. 

“We express our entire confidence in the good faith 
of Senators Beveridge, Nelson, and others in their 
efforts to secure statehood for the two Territories, on 
terms of aksolute equality, at the earliest possible 
moment, and denounce as a subterfuge the charge that 
their efforts in urging single statehood is to prevent 
all statehood legislation in the present Congress. 

JESSE J. DUNN, 
Secretary, 
GIDEON MORGAN, 
Chairman.” 


APPENDIX XLV—6. 


ATTACKING THE DOUBLE STATEHOOD LINE AT 
HOME 


Among the members of the delegation who started 
to Washington, immediately after the adjournment of 
the convention at Oklahoma City, was Mr. Charles B. 
Ames, a prominent attorney of Oklahoma City. During 
the course of his sojourn in Washington, Mr. Ames 
(who was himself a Democrat and a native of Missis- 
sippi) perscnally interviewed every Senator from the 
Southern States in an endeavor to win some of them 
to the support of the single statehood plan for the 
Indian and Oklahoma Territories. Without exception 
he found them unalterably determimed to support 
Senator Quay in his effort to force the passage of the 
Omnibus Statehood Bill. Almost without exception 
the reason assigned was that, with two States instead 
of one, the South would be more nearly on a parity 
with the North in the United States Senate; against 
this sectional political advantage all argument on be- 
half of the people of the two territories (who would 
thus ultimately be burdened with the support of two 
state governments irstead of one) seemed futile. Yet 
Mr. Ames felt that conditions were such as to make it 
necessary to break such an alignment. ‘Therefore, 
unwilling to give it up, he sent the following telegram: 
“J. B. Thokurn, Secretary, 

“Chamber of Commerce, 

“Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

“Have partisan telegrams concentrated on Senator 
Tillman; the more partisan the better. 

(Signed) Cc. B. AMES.” 


This telegram was delivered about noon the next 
day, which was Sunday. The secretary of the Okla- 


APPENDIX 


homa City Chamber of Commerce was not a partisan, 
so the situation obviously indicated that there should 
be called to his assistance some one who was. Fortun- 
ately, he found that William L. Alexander, of Hobart, 
who had been Secretary of the Territorial Committee 
was in the city. The latter was soon located and came 
in answer to an appeal for help. Suitable telegraphic 
messages were sent to other members of the Terri- 
torial Demccratic Committee after which, as the result 
of collaboretion between the secretary and Mr. Alex- 
ander, the following telegram was sent to the Senator 
from South Carolina: 
“Hon. Benjamin R. Tillman, 

mt S. Serate, Washington, D. C. 

She 
Statehood Bill. Its intent is piecemeal absorption of 
the Indian Territory, after systematic negro coloni- 


zation. 
“(Signed) W. L. ALEXANDER, Secretary, 
“Territorial Democratic Committee.” 


On Friday following, during the course of the con- 
tinued debate on the Omnibus Statehood Bill, Senator 
Tillman, who had evidently been doing some serious 
thinking over the matter, made the following remarks 
on the floor of the Senate: 

“Mr. President, in view of the fact that claims are 
being put forth here and assertions made as to the 
status and intentions of Senators, based on a vote that 
was had a couple of days ago, I think it is proper that 
I should make known, as one of the Senators who 
voted to continue the consideration of the Bill, what 
my attitude is in regard to it. 

“T want to vote for the bill, but I do not want to vote 
for it in the form in which it now is; and I wish to 
explain briefly, if the Senator from Indiana will in- 
Gules ine just how I feel about it. “(Mr. Beveridge: 
TIT will.’) 

“The question has been asked here as to why there 
was such a necessity for urgency, why the Bill was 
being pressed and why everything else was shoved 
aside to give this bill the right of way. I am one of 
those old fogies who believe that a platform adopted 
by a political party in national conclave should mean 
what it says and say what it means. 

“Both parties as represented in this Chamber in 
their national platforms have announced themselves in 
favor of statehood for these Territories. Therefore, if 
there was any faith to be put in their claims or the 
statement of policies upon which they went to the 
country, or if those platforms were made to get into 
office and then to be disavowed or trampled under foot. 
I for one, as a Democrat, protest that the Democratic 
party cannot afford to occupy that attitude, and the 
Republicans are entitled to ail the credit and honor, if 
they choose to assume it, that may come from such an 
attitude. 

“The situation, as I understand it, is simply this: 
There are in the Territory formerly called the Indian 
Territory—Oklahoma and Indian Territory as they 
now are—something like eight or nine hundred thou- 
sand or a million white people who went into these 
Territories from the States to settle up and to create a 
new Commonwealth. These people are our brethren. 
They are our fellow-citizens. They have some rights 
which both the Republican party and the Democratic 
party ought to respect. Their condition now is deplor- 
able. 

“T happened to go down into that region the year 
before last, and I know something from personal ob- 
servation of the situation. The people in Oklahoma are 
much better situated than the people in the Indian 
Territory—I mean the white people—for the reason 
that in Oklahoma there is some provision for free 
schools and for the machinery of government such as 
States enjoy, whereas in the Indian Territory every- 
thing is tied up and hampered by the condition of the 
ownership of land by the Indians. The four or five 
hundred thousand white people there are, you might 
say, a sort of Ishmaelites. They are on the Indian 
lands and can not get title. They are all clamorous 
for statehood in some form. The people in Oklahoma 
want statehood and the people in the Indian Territory 
certainly want statehood, either separately from Okla- 
homa or conjointly with it. If they cannot obtain 
statehood then they want Territorial government the 
same as any other Territory. 


* 


a 


¢ 


For God’s sake vote against the Omnibus : 


APPENDIX 


“There is a provision here in the Statehood Bill 
as it has been reported, as it passed the House of 
Representatives, and which, as it is claimed, has a 
majority of this Senate behind it, that to my mind 
is simply damnable in its cruelty and injustice. I will 
read it. After providing for the calling of a Con- 
stitutional Convention for the framing of the organic 
law, the apportionment of delegates, and all that 
kind of thing necessary for the birth of a new State, 
this Omnibus Bill goes on, at the bottom of page 4, 
line 21, with a proviso to this effect: 

“*Provided, that the Constitutional Convention pro- 
vided herein— 

“Speaking of Oklahoma— 

“Shall, by ordinance irrevocable, express the con- 
sent of the State of Oklahoma that Congress may at 
any time, or from time to time, attach all or any part 
of the Indian Territory to the State of Oklahoma after 
the title to said lands in said Indian Territory is ex- 
tinguished in the tribes now claiming the same, and 
we Same assigned in severalty and subject to taxa- 
ion.’ 

“What does that proviso mean? It means that Okla- 
homa is to be created into a State with all the rights 
of statehood conditioned upon her accepting hereafter, 
in whole or in part, other lands now in the Indian 
Territory, and the population thereof. In other words, 
the provision of this bill puts it in the power of the 
politicians in this Chamber to take the arid or semi- 
arid, the dry end of the former Indian Territory, great 
as are its resources and great as its capacity for 
maintaining a dense population, and create a State 
out of it; and ignore the claims and rights of the 
white men in the other end of the former Indian Ter- 
ritory or the present Indian Territory. That is the 
wet end, the rainy end, with land which is as rich 
in natural fertility as any land on this continent, and 
in some respects richer, not in fertility, but blessed 
in its climate, because I have seen land in both Okla- 
homa and the Indian Territory, and very large acres 
of it, without fertilizers, will produce a bale of cotton 
to the acre, twenty bushels of wheat, forty bushels 
of oats, forty bushels of corn, and from two to three 
tons of alfalfa hay. Such a condition and climatic 
advantages do not exist anywhere else in this country 
of ours or in any part of the known world that I 
know of. 

‘Tt is proposed, however, to create a State out of 
the poor and arid end, speaking relatively; then to 
ignore the rights of white people in the other end, 
parcel them out by piecemeal, and allow them to be 
‘benevolently assimilated’ as the political exigencies 
and opportunities may come around for a party to 
gain advantage at the expense of those citizens. 

“Consider for a moment this scheme of political 
brigandage and infamy. Are the white men of the 
Indian Territory of a different breed; are they in- 
ferior, that they should have no rights respected by 
this Congress? I do not consider that any man here 
will contend for any such doctrine as that. Yet here is 
your game: here is your programme: Instead of ad- 
mitting the white people of the whole Indian Terri- 
tory together, or creating States, one of the Indian 
Territory and one of Oklahoma, or leaving the In- 
dian Territory out entirely and creating a State of 
Oklahoma and let her go her way, you provide for 
something that has never been provided for before in 
our history, that this rich Territory, with its tax- 
paying power, shall be added to a State after it has 
been created and in such parcels aS may be con- 
venient. 

“You would allow the arid end, Oklahoma, to locate 
the State capital, to locate all of the public institu- 
tions, the penitentiary, the State colleges, to get all 
of the benefits, and then you graciously admit here- 
after these people in the other end to come in as 
wards in chancery, or as subjects to pay taxes. To 
support such a scheme is an outrage. Therefore, I 
never will vote for the Statehood Bill as it is now 
presented to us, and when people claim my vote, I 
want them to understand that it belongs to me, and 
T stand here as a representative of a State which be- 
lieves in equality and justice and decent treatment of 
white people at least.” 


APPENDIX XLVI—1. 
A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT 


“Executive Office, Little Rock, Dec. 22. To the Presi- 
dent. Dear Sir: The developments incident to the re- 


905 


cent train robbery and murder at Olyphant in this 
State renders it proper, it seems to me that I call your 
attention to the dangerous relation which the Indian 
Territory west of us occupies to the States of the 
Union, and especially to the adjacent States of Arkan- 
sas, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma Territory. 

‘Upon the person of one of the captured robbers was 
found a map of the route they had taken from the 
Indian Territory, 175 miles, to the scene of the rob- 
bery, and also a map of the country around Chatta- 
nooga, Tenn., showing that another robbery was con- 
templated at or near that city. 

‘Tt also appeared that the captured leaders are 
noted characters in this business and inveigled some 
very respectable citizens along the border into this 
robbery. 

“T have good reason to suspect that a very large 
percentage of the bank and train robberies which 
take place west of the Alleghanies and east of the 
Rocky Mountains are organized or originate in this 
Indian Territory. 

“Tet me also add that the refuge which this sparsely 
settled rendezvous of outlaws affords to criminals is 
a constant temptation to crime in all the country 
around. 

“During the past twelve months there have issued 
from the State of Arkansas, Texas, Kansas and Okla- 
homa Territory, 61 requisitions upon the Indian Ter- 


. ritory authorities for fugitives, while we have reason 


to believe that as many more are hiding among their 
comrades in crime in this asylum of criminals. 

“These criminals who find a refuge in this Terri- 
tory are rapidly converting the Indian country into 
a school for crime. They are demoralizing the Indians 
and are especially stirring up the young Indians to 
deeds of blood and theft. Young Star, for example, 
although less than 20 years of age and of fine capaci- 
ties, has been charged with almost every crime in the 
catalogue and is now sentenced to death for murder. 
The records of the Federal courts of Paris and Ft. 
Smith reveal a startling story in this direction, yet 
they do not tell one-tenth of the whole story. 

“Prior to the late Civil War I resided in Ft. Smith, 
on the border of this Territory. The merchants of 
this place did $500,000 worth of business in that 
country every year. Their clerks would make peri- 
odical collections, traveling openly and known to have 
large sums of money with them, yet nobody was 
ever molested—travel was safer than in the States. 

“Now, according to an estimate of one of the news- 
papers published a year or two since in Muskogee, the 
number of murders reached the appalling figure of 
200 in one year that were not cognizable in the Fed- 
eral courts. The Federal jail at Ft. Smith is at all 
seasons nearly full of prisoners from this Territory 
and the Federal court holds sessions continuing 
nearly every month in the year. 

“The state of semi-chaos and the farces of govern- 
ment which exist in this Territory, rendering it a 
constant menace to the peace and order of all the 
States of the Mississippi Valley, suggests the very 
serious question whether the time has not arrived 
for the Federal Government to assert its right of 
eminent domain over this part of the national domain, 
and to change its political relations with the United 
States. 

“T can think of no valid reasons upon which to base 
the opinion that an Indian’s rights, either of person 
or property, are any more sacred than those of the 
white man which, it is conceded, must give way to 
the public good. 

“In this case not only the public good but public 
safety, as well as the highest interests of the Indian 
himself, demands the suggested change.” 

Very respectfully, 
W. M. FISHBACK, 
Governor of Arkansas. 


The Reply To Governor Fishback. 


That Governor Fishback, of Arkansas, should sud- 
denly take it upon himself to masquerade in a new 
role in a very old play should not be surprising to our 
people, had the act been assumed by any one else 
except Fishback, 

The Governor has no doubt forgotten the very 
existence of his native city and its subsequent growth 
and prosperity is traceable directly and indirectly to 
the people living in the Territory, that the wily Gov- 


906 


ernor tries so hard to place in an infamously false 
attitude. 

Governor Fishback also makes it convenient to 
allow his memory to play him false, when he forgets 
that his own State, within the past ten years, has 
had ninety percent. more bank, train and other rob- 
beries than the whole Indian Territory, and in nearly 
every case of robbery in Arkansas the perpetrators 
have been proven to be Arkansans. 

Probably the fickleness of the Governor’s memory 
has caused him to forget the four Arkansaw boys who 
tried to rob the Little Rock and Fort Smith railroad 
train at Mulberry Station, killed the conductor and 
wounded one of their own members. These four men 
were afterwards hanged at Ozark and never were in 
the Indian Territory. 

In his new rd6le, in the old, old play, the Governor is 
compelled to stand on the corner of the street of his 
native city, and point with his long bony finger to- 
ward the homes of his life-long friends and shout: 

“Hot bed of crime! School of crime! etc.” The 
same old song we have heard for years. 

Wonder if the boy who killed the three women and 
then killed himself, right under the Governor’s nose 
(which strangely points towards Washington City) 
was from the Indian Territory? 

Among other noted criminals, which the Governor 
enumerates as having come from the Indian Terri- 
tory, is Henry Starr. If the Governor had wanted to 
deal fairly with his Indian friends, he could have 
ascertained that Henry Starr learned all his deviltry 
from Milo Creekmore, who was raised if not born in 
Fort Smith, Arkansas. Governor Fishback gives the 
truth a black eye when he says that the United States 
jail at Fort Smith, is always full of criminals from 
the Indian Territory, because everybody except per- 
haps the Governor knows that the jurisdiction of 
Judge Parker’s Federal Court extends over a large 
part of the State of Arkansas, and that at least half 
the prisoners in the Federal jail at Fort Smith, are 
from Governor Fishback’s own State. 

The learned Governor asserts that “61 requisitions 
have been made on the authorities in the Territory 
for criminals.” Be it said to the honor of our author- 
ities that they have always honored every requisition 
made to them for criminals, and that every State has 
reciprocated this courtesy to our authorities when a 
requisition was made to them for a criminal—except 
Arkansas, whose executives have refused to return 
criminals when a requisition was made—and in con- 
sequence persons who have committed the gravest 
crimes in our country have gone into Arkansas, and 
defied the authorities of the Territory. 

Governor Fishback knows this to be a fact—and 
he further knows that while he is trying to poison 
the ear of President Cleveland against Indian Terri- 
tory and its citizens—that statistics show that there 
has been more crime committed in Arkansas in the 
past twelve months by native-born Arkansans than 
in the whole Indian Territory for the past five years. 

Treat us fair Governor, and the Indians will still 
give the merchants of your native city their trade 
and friendship—never turn your back on an old 
friend. When you seek to place us in a false light, 
you are only pushing back the money that flows into 
Fort Smith, from the Indian Territory. 

Let a young man admonish you in all kindness 
Governor, never again lend your infant arm to the 
enemies of the Cherokees when trying to cut down 
the shaft that floats the proud banner of our country. 

Good-bye Governor, may a kind Providence watch 
over and direct you, and at least give you some statis- 
tics on criminals of the Indian Territory before your 
next spell of letter-writing. 

e eye hier Advocate” (Tahlequah, I. T.), January 


Claims In The Territory. 


The following letter from Judge I. C. Parker, of 
the Federal Court at Fort Smith, was received re- 
cently by the Chief of the Cherokees, it being an 
answer to a letter of inquiry in regard to the per 
cent. of crime committed in the territory by Indians 
and whites, and clearly contradicts the recent charges 
advanced by Governor Fishback, of Arkansas, in his 
famous letter to President Cleveland. 

“Ft. Smith, Ark., Feb. 20, 1894. My dear sir: * * * 
for the 16 years I have been holding court my judg- 


APPENDIX 


ment is that the number of Indians who have been 
charged with high crimes compared with the citizens 
of the United States is about ten per cent. For minor 
offences, such as introducing liquor into the Indian 
country, the number of Indians charged with crime of 
this character, when compared with citizens of the 
United States would probably amount to 15 or 20 pez 
cent. There has never been any trouble growing out 
of the amount of crime committed by the Indians. 
* * * The vast majority of persons who commit 
those crimes are persons who have refuge into that 
Conn from some other State or territory of the 
nion. 

“The trouble all the time has arisen from the failure 
of the Government to carry out its obligations to the 
Indians, which would require it to send that class of 
intruders out of the Indian country. If that had been 
done from the beginning the amount of crime in the 
Indian country would not have been great as it has 
been in any Western State. The influence of this class 
of refugee criminals in that country is most perni- 
cious upon the Indians. They are not there, however, 
by any fault of the Indians. They are there because 
the Government has permitted them to be and remain 
there, and an opportunity for crime, and for making 
criminals by their example that has been afforded 
them. It will not do to say the laws are not en- 
forced in the Indian country. They are more vigor- 
ously enforced there by the courts of the United 
States, and by the respective Indian courts than they 
are in any western State. 

“T am as ever, most truly yours, 

C1 Cy PAR RKB tae 

—‘“Indian Citizen” (Atoka, I. T.), March 15, 1894. 


APPENDIX XLVI—2. 
THE DAWES COMMISSION. 
AN ADDRESS EMBODYING ADVICE AND WARNING 
To the Citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes: 


Believe us when we tell you the present anomalous 
condition existing in the five tribes cannot last. 

The expenses of the judiciary have become burden- 
some, and the United States ought not to be asked 
longer to endure them. And yet, crime is too preva- 
lent, and the large unsettled districts afford a harbor 
and refuge for criminals, making it nearly impossible 
to arrest them. The policy now in existence of leasing 
large tracts of land for grazing purposes and thus 
preventing settlement, necessarily leads to a contin- 
uation of these evils. 

Twenty thousand children, both white and Indian, 
are growing to maturity without the opportunities 
of obtaining a common school education. Where gov- 
ernment is the exponent of the people’s will, it cannot 
be good and wise unless the people are educated and 
are intelligent. Not only are these children without 
educational advantages, but they are without moral 
and religious instruction. This is the road to bar- 
barism, and the United States cannot allow its people 
to travel this path without making all possible efforts 
to prevent it. 

The earlier settlers and the enterprising and avari- 
cious, under the laws and usages of tribal govern- 
ment, are enjoying a monopoly of nearly all the best 
lands, and have fenced tracts of land containing ten 
times their share, while the diffident and retiring full- 
blood Indians have been crowded back into the stony, 
wooded hills and worthless lands, and are compelled 
to eke out an existence on a few acres, and are so 
widely separated and so far removed from progressive 
influences as to make schools impossible, and are 
making little or no progress in civilization. This is 
neither just nor humane, and is a matter of grave 
concern to every friend of the Indian, and all who 
desire to see him prosperous, happy and on the way 
to a higher civilization. 

Every day of delay but adds to the difficulties of 
division. Numerous towns ranging in population from 
100 to 5.000 have grown up without being platted, 
and in which large and valuable buildings have been 
erected, while the title to the ground on which they 
stand belongs to a tribe and is held in common. TO 
adjust the equities growing out of this situation is 
already well-nigh impossible, involving great labor, 
and is continually growing greater. 

Coal mines, leased and opened, on which large sums 


APPENDIX 


of money are being expended, are continually adding 
to the difficulties of allotment. 

Many complaints are made by members of the 
various tribes that a few influential men are obtaining 
leases from the councils for extensive tracts of the 
best land at a nominal rental, and subletting these 
leases to white men for grazing purposes for large 
sums of money, those occupying the land being bought 
or driven out. 

That trials in Indian courts are a farce and justice 
a by-word. 

That the public moneys are absorbed, and when 
filtered through their hands, little of it "reaches the 
poor and powerless, and in many cases none. 

To what extent these complaints are well-founded 
we have no means of knowing, though they are rep- 
resented to be true by many members of the various 
tribes, and attested by non-citizens of the highest 
character. But we make no charges. 

HENRY L. DAWES, 
MEREDITH H. KIDD, 
ARCHIBALD S. McKENNON, 
Commissioners. 
—‘Indian Chieftain,” Vinita, February 15, 1894. 


APPENDIX XLVI—3. 


EDITORIAL ON CONDITION OF THE FULL-BLOODS. - 


There is one wrong being done the full-bloods that 
the Chieftain would like to see regulated. There is 
one misrepresentation of the full-blood’s real condition 
that will one day, sooner or later, be fully explained 
and laid bare. In short, the day of reckoning and of 
restitution will come, and the false position of those 
who pretend to espouse his cause by appealing to his 
prejudices will be nailed. 

The wrong, and the misrepresentation, and the 
fraud is this, that the Cherokees—or the other Na- 
tions as to that matter—are moving along all right; 
that they have a model local government, and that the 
condition of the Indian is a desirable one, or that the 
full-blood is getting a good living out of the present 
System, and is contented and happy. Nothing could 
be further from the truth. 

Now for the facts: The full-blood is a poor, de- 
luded, listless and hopeless creature, shut out from 
the world and its civilization by the very environ- 
ments that give happiness and prosperity to others. 
He neither hears nor understands any English of con- 
sequence. He lives in the most out-of-the-way places 
he can find. He owns a very little stock and has no 
farm. (Speaking in general, though there are excep- 
tions). He is as poor as he can ever get in this 
world. The only thing he is well stocked with is 
prejudice to the white man and his ways. He is told 
by his mixed-blood brothers that he is as well off as 
he is, and he probably believes it. 

If the Dawes commission would study the condition 
and wants of the real Indian they must go and view 
him in his native haunts among the hills, where 
poverty and ignorance and disease stalks forth at 
noonday. There are no poorer people on earth than 
the full-blood Indians as a class, and the people who 
claim that “we are all right” know it. The people who 
occupy the land and are operating large farms and 
grazing vast herds at the expense of these poor, de- 
luded creatures and insist that the full-blood is “all 
right” ought to be ashamed of themselves. 

We need a change of government (if for no other 
prs rose) for the defense and protection of the full- 

lood 

At Vinita and Muskogee and other trade centers in 
this territory is no place to study the Indian and his 
needs. The full-bloods do not live in town, but seek 
the most remote retreats possible. There are a few 
well-to-do full-bloods, but with rare exceptions they 
are politicians and have gotten their means from the 
publie crib. There is not one full-blood in a hundred 
who has the remotest idea that he is paying a cent 
of tax, when the truth is he is paying more tax in 
proportion to his income than a citizen of any State 
in the Union is paying or ever has paid. The interest 
on the invested funds belongs to all alike, hence the 
poor and the rich pay the same amount, which is 
almost ten dollars per annum for every Cherokee by 
blood in the tribe. 

The United States government owes these people 


907 


better treatment. They should not be left the willing 
prey of those who pretend to be running their govern- 
ment for them. The general government should see 
that they get a just and equal division of land and 
money and be protected by an inalienable title to 
their homes. 

—‘Indian Chieftain” (Vinita, I. T.), February 8, 1894. 

The “Vinita Chieftain’ has a long editorial in the 
last week’s issue about the full-bloods. The polished 
editor appoints himself guardian of the Indian, and 
proceeds to call his wards, “poor, deluded, listless, and 
hopeless creatures,” and adds, “If the Dawes com- 
mission would study the real Indian they must go and 
view him in his native haunts among the hills, where 
poverty, ignorance and disease stalk forth at noon- 


day.” Any person who would seek to place the full- 
bloods in a false light before the world, is either 
ignorant of the facts or knowingly does so. If Vinita 


is not the place to study the full-blood Indian, how 
can their kind-hearted guardian (who lives in that 
city) give other people advice on their conditions? 
We may be wrong, but we will venture to say, that 
it is hardly possible that the editor of the Chieftain, 
or his assistant, has ever had an hour’s conversation 
with a full-blood Indian in their lives, much less 
been welcome visitors to his home. But this may be 
caused from the fact that the editor of the Chief- 
tain would disdain to go where “poverty and disease 
stalks forth at noonday,”’ and where he could not 
feed on oatmeal and gruel. Guardians and protectors 
should be made of sterner stuff than this. This land 
was sold to the Indian and a patent issued to them by 
President Van Buren. The treaty says, “This land 
shall be the Indians’ as long as grass grows and 
water runs.’ This guarantee was made a long time 
ago, yes, before the Chieftain’s Moses ever thought 
of immigrating to this country, and appointing him- 
self the Indian’s protector. If this country is ever 
allotted, and the people who bring it about, does not 
get the lion’s share of the spoils, how quick you will 
hear them crying out, ‘Lord have mercy on the poor 
Indian, he has been robbed of his home and the sacred 
treaties have been trampled in the mud.’ We have 
the utmost respect for Senator Dawes, and if he finds 
the sentiment of our people against allotment and 
statehood, he and his commission will so report to 
Congress. There are no homeless people in this 
Nation, and no father or mother are forced to hear 
their little ones crying for the want of clothing and 
shelter. If allotment comes to our people, then 
indeed misery will take the place of happiness, and 
‘poverty will stalk forth at noonday.” 

—‘‘The Cherokee Advocate” (Tahlequah, I. T.), Feb- 
ruary 14, 1894. 


APPENDIX XLVI—4. 


A CHOCTAW’S PERTINENT QUERY OF THE 
DAWES COMMISSION. 


Captain Archibald S. McKennon, of Arkansas, and 
Mr. Meredith H. Kidd, of Indiana, represented the 
Dawes Commission upon the occasion of its first ap- 
pearance before the Choctaw Council in 1895. A joint 
session of the Senate and House was held, during 
which Mr. Kidd first addressed the audience, declar- 
ing that if the Choctaws would treat with the Com- 
mission they could write the terms of the agreement 
themselves. 

Then Captain McKennon made an impassioned ap- 
peal. He portrayed in glowing terms how many 
benefits the Choctaws would receive under a new 
agreement with the Government, which would result 
in an immediate settlement of their “vast and valu- 
able estate.” All the Indian people would then have 
money enough to live in luxury; they would have fine 
homes, Brussels carpets, pianos, and other expensive 
furnishings. More than that, all the Choctaw children 
would receive the benefits of education just as the 
children in the States. Captain McKennon closed his 
address by stating that he would be glad to answer 
any question from the members of the Council. 

Everyone sat in stony silence. In a little while, 
Senator J. J. Watkins, of Bokhoma County (Choctaw 
Nation), arose with quiet dignity. Calling upon Wil- 
liam McKirney to act as interpreter, he stated that 
he would like to ask a question. After expressing his 
appreciation of what the honorable gentlemen of the 
Dawes Commission had to say, he particularly men- 


908 


tioned his great interest in Captain McKennon’s re- 
marks, in which he stated that all the Choctaw chil- 
dren would be educated as the children who live in 
the States. , 

“My heart swells with pride,” he exclaimed, “for the 
future generations of the Choctaws, when I think of 
them as educated men and women. 

“However, I should like to ask a question. I have 
several farms down in Bokhoma County, which are 
worked by white people as tenants. I always try to 
live up to the teachings of the Bible, and I believe in 
resting on the Sabbath day, but it keeps me busy all 
day on Sundays, going around to my farms, telling 
those white people, ‘This is Sunday. The Bible tells 
us how we should conduct ourselves on Sunday.’ 

“Now, what I want to know is, where do those 
white people come from?” : 

Senator Watkins resumed his seat and silence 
reigned again. As no reply seemed to be coming from 
either of the two gentlemen in the seats of honor, 
someone in the audience suddenly remarked, though 
in apologetic tones, ‘Maybe those people came from 
Arkansas.” 

Even Captain McKennon, though it was. evident 
that he was much embarrassed, had to smile as a 
hearty laugh arose from the members of the Council. 


APPENDIX XLVI—5. 


BRIEF REVIEW OF SOME OF THE COMMISSIONS 
IN THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS IN THE 
CHOCTAW NATION FOR 1895 AND 1896. 


During the summer of 1895 an exciting campaign 
took place in the Choctaw Nation. In the first allot- 
ment convention held in the Choctaw Nation at Hart- 
shorne, on July 10th, Doctor E. N. Wright, of Atoka, 
had been the leader in advocating a conference with 
the Dawes Commission. At the election held on 
August 7th, Doctor Wright was elected representative 
from Atoka County, to the General Council, though 
the sentiment against treating with the Dawes Com- 
mission and the allotment in severalty was exceed- 
ingly hostile, especially among citizens in certain 
other communities. Although the sentiment in favor 
of meeting the Dawes Commission had gained head- 
way during the previous campaign, it was three weeks 
after the beginning of the ensuing session of the 
Choctaw Council, in October, before Doctor Wright 
could induce Principal Chief Jefferson Gardiner and 
members of the Council to invite the Commission to 
visit the Choctaw capital at Tushkahoma. 

Immediately after the visit of the members of the 
Commission, however, the Choctaw Senate, with only 
one dissenting vote, passed a bill making it unlawful 
for any citizen of the Choctaw Nation to make any 
attempt in favor of allotment of Choctaw land in 
severalty or “to betray said land and Choctaw coun- 
try into the hands of a foreign power.” The first 
offense in violation of this act was punishable by a 
jail sentence of not less than twelve months, and a 
fine of not less than $1,000.00, nor more than _ $10,- 
000.00; the second offense was punishable by death. 
The bill failed of passage in the House. However, 
after the conference between the General Council 
and the authorized representatives of the Chickasaw 
Nation, a resolution was passed expressing disap- 
proval of the propositions submitted by the Dawes 
Commission, which was signed by Principal Chief 
Jefferson Gardiner and Jacob B. Jackson, the Na- 
tional secretary. 

The following summer, the question of treating 
with the Dawes Commission became a decided issue 
of the campaign, during which the ‘‘Tushkahoma 
Party” was formed, Doctor Wright being one of its 
leading organizers, the author of its platform, and 
its campaign manager in the ensuing campaign. The 
new party’s nominee for principal chief, Green Mc- 
Curtain, was elected by a large majority. 

While a short review, such as the above, cannot 
portray the general excitement and the antagonisms 
that were aroused by the leaders in each of the Five 
Civilized Tribes, in advocating such a course for their 
people, the following editorial, which appeared in the 
“Indian Chieftain” (Vinita, I. T.), for November 2, 
1893, pointed out, in a measure, the prejudice that 
had to be overcome before even a conference with the 
Dawes Commission could be sanctioned: 

“There are members of council and also of the 


APPENDIX 


senate who, if left to their own sentiments, would 
vote and work for allotment of the land of this Na- 
tion, but they stand in mortal dread of the opposition, 
They fear the majority that would be against them, 
for there is no doubt but a majority of the Cherokees 
oppose the measure. But all great movements in the 
history of the world have been inaugurated by the 
minority. The Declaration of Independence had very 
few supporters at first, and those who had the moral 
courage to sign it took their lives in their hands. 
After awhile, after it had been discussed, it began to 
have a majority, and now it stands almost along side 
of the Sermon on the Mount. The member of either 
house of the Cherokee Legislature who first intro- 
duces a bill providing for allotment of lands will, in 
after years, be regarded as a benefactor and his name 
will go down into history as one who knows what 
was best for his people and was not afraid to act.” 


APPENDIX XLVI—6. 


CAUSES AND RESULTS OF THE ACT OF MAY 6, 
1896. 


In reviewing the question of citizenship in the 
Chickasaw Nation (which also involved the Choctaw 
Nation, since the two nations held their lands in 
common), Governor Douglas H. Johnston, of the 
Chickasaws, in his annual message to their National 
Legislature, dated September 4, 1900, reviewed the 
causes for the passage of the Act of May 6, 1896: 

“The Government assumed citizenship jurisdiction 
upon the recommendation of the Dawes Commission. 
The Dawes Commission made only one recommenda- 
tion in one report, and it was upon this that Con- 
gress acted. This recommendation appears upon pages 
73, 74, and 75, of the report of the Dawes Commission 
for 1895. It appears under the heading ‘Cherokee 
citizenship.’ To Cherokee citizenship the commission 
referred, and to Cherokee citizenship their recom- 
mendations applied primarily. The condition of Chero- 
kee citizenship, as is generally known, was at that 
time chaotic. Their rolls were manipulated so as 
to defeat the enforcement of the criminal laws of the 
United States. Under the ‘Cherokee Strip’ treaty of 
1893 the Government obligated itself to remove ‘in- 
truders,’ or citizenship claimants. For personal and 
political reasons the names of many persons who had 
always been recognized were by the Cherokee author- 
ities stricken from the regular roll and placed upon 
the intruder roll, and thus marked for transportation 
beyond the limits of the Cherokee Nation. The time 
fixed for the removal of ‘intruders’ (January 1, 1896) 
was fast approaching. Consternation was abroad in 
the Cherokee Nation. Unless some means of relief 
were provided, not only a wholesale injustice would 
be done, but violence would result. This consterna- 
tion extended (and naturally so) to the Dawes Com- 
mission. They advised intervention by the United 
States. Thus their recommendation of 1895 was made, 
and the act of June 10, 1896, was the result.” 

Governor Johnston further discussed the results of 
this law as follows: 

“This law, as soon’ as passed and published, was 
seized upon by unscrupulous lawyers and claim agents 
and sent out to the world. It was raised and held 
aloft as a beacon. Hordes of white adventurers who 
had never lived in the Indian Territory or claimed 
Indian citizenship responded by rushing in from the 
borders of the surrounding States. . .. . These 
‘court claimants’ do not look like Indians. They do 
not act like Indians. They have none of the attributes 
of the Indian. They are white adventurers from the 
surrounding States, and any intelligent and impartial 
jury would so declare them. When the law of 1896 
was passed they speculated as to the possibilities of 
acquiring allotments of land. They heeded the bea- 
con” 

In his annual message to the General Council of 
the Choctaw Nation, dated October 3, 1900, Principal 
Chief Green McCurtain likewise commented on the 
situation with reference to the “court citizens,” as 
follows: 

“Other applicants had for years resided in the 
Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, renting or leasing 
lands as noncitizen farmers, who, seeing the scramble, 
concluded to try their fortunes in what seemed to be 
a huge game of chance, with the odds against the 
Indians, thus swelling the army of applicants. All 


| 


APPENDIX 


were incited and urged on by the attorneys and claim 
agents, as a rule of the baser sort, who scrupled at 
nothing in misrepresenting conditions and laws, and 
convincing claimants of their power to secure allot- 
MGHUSA i Coes 

“In these proceedings, applicants seeking Choctaw 
citizenship sued only the Choctaw Nation, and only 
the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation was served 
or made a party to the suit. Under alleged judgment 
so taken these ‘court claimants’ to Choctaw citizen- 
ship now seek allotment belonging jointly to the 
Choctaw and Chickasaw. In like manner applicants 
for Chickasaw citizenship took judgment and are 
claiming. No such thing as the enforcement of judg- 
ments so taken against joint property would be 
thought of anywhere else on the face of the earth, 
as in law such judgments are void as to both parties 
and can not in any degree affect their judgment.” 

—Report of the Commission to the Five Civilized 
Tribes for 1901, pp. 210-14. 


APPENDIX XLVI—7. 


RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE FIVE CIVILIZED 
TRIBES IN CONVENTION AT SOUTH McALESTER. 
NOVEMBER 12, 1896. 


Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention 
that the time has arrived when the repeated demands 
of the United States makes it imperative on the Five 
Civilized Nations to treat with the United States 
Commission. 

It is of the highest importance that the Five Nations 
act in perfect harmony and on a definite common line 
of policy which is hereby solemnly pledged by each 
to the other. The following line of policy is regarded 
as essential to securing the best interests of the Five 
Nations under the pending conditions—and it is 


adopted: 
POLICY. 


We recognize that the proposals of the United 
States for disintegrating the land of our people by 
allotment and town-site division, mean ultimate state 
government, and that in dealing with the United 
States we must fully and clearly recognize this policy 
of the general government and conduct our negotia- 
tions on this basis so as to secure all of the amounts 
due our Nations and people with an agreement of 
method conserving our material and political rights, 
as a condition precedent to disintegration of lands 
and tribai governments. 

If impelled to dissolve our tribal governments we 
wish to construct an abler government which shall 
protect the lives, the happiness and the property of 
our people and secured by the proposed negotiations. 

1. We will insist first on a full payment of all 
claims due to each of the Nations, arising out of 
treaty stipulations or other relations, to be agreed 
on by the Commission of each Nation and the United 
States Commission and paid as soon as practicable 
and before any impairment of tribal government. 

2. When division of land shall be made, all the land 
shall be divided among the citizens of the Nations, 
share and share alike, except as modified by Indian 
law and treaty, and the patent shall remain inviolate 
retaining sovereignty in the Nation, until a state 
government containing constitutional protection as 
hereinafter set forth shall have gone into effect. 

3. Impelled by the earnest and repeated insistence 
of the United States demanding of our people the re- 
linquishment of our tribal governments, we feel 
obliged to insist on a personal compensation to each 
of our citizens of not less than $500.00 apiece, to be 
paid before our governments are destroyed, the 
amount to be determined by each Nation. This de- 
mand is based on the following reasons: 

a. Our people must relinquish a government to 
which they are deeply attached. They must give up 
social customs, habits and observances which, ob- 
served for very many years, have become essential 
to their happiness. 

b. They must assume new and strange duties and 
habits to which they are totally unaccustomed and 
which will prove irksome and expensive in the ex- 
treme to our individual citizens, especially to our 
thousands of non-English speaking people. 

ec. Hach individual will have to build new outside 
fences on north and south, east and west lines, ac- 
cording to the lines newly surveyed by the United 


909 


States. This will cost hundreds of dollars to each 
quarter section, about which would be two miles of 
fence, at least, in every instance. This will cost 
money. 

d. Our citizens will have to move houses, fences, 
corrals, ete., and change orchards, water supplies, 
cultivated fields, etc., and other established improve- 
ments to conform to these new lines of survey. This 
will require money. 

e. Our citizens will lose free pasturage for cattle 
and every family cow that now has open range and 
will require the building of small pastures for such 
cattle and providing of necessary forage for such 
stock. This needs money. 

f. Our people who have forgotten their winter’s 
meat and annual food from swine running on the 
open mast, will be compelled to bring them home and 
build special close pens and provide food for them, 
Our people will have to pay the bill. 

g. Our people will be driven to abandon all their 
previously constructed roads and must of necessity 
build new roads for travel on north and south, east 
and west lines, build bridges, etec., which will impose 
a new, unavoidable and unexpected expense on our 
people. 

h. Our people will under the new conditions be re- 
quired to bear the immediate, close personal contact 
with numerous impecunious persons, impoverished in 


* other states, who will endeavor to better their con- 


dition in the Indian country and who will subject our 
people to the same line of small, exasperating and 
aggressive trespasses that drove the Indians allotted 
in Kansas, as the Shawnees, Delawares, Pottawato- 
mies and others out of that state for refuge in Indian 
Territory. 

We are not unaware that the total involved would 
be large yet we are fully advised that the huge de- 
velopment under the new condition in opening to its 
full productive power our Indian domain will be of 
great advantage to the United States, and that the 
United States will be fully repaid out of the revenue 
that will flow therefrom. 

4. We realize the great benefits our people have 
derived from our educational institutions, and also 
that many of our people will by the new conditions 
be reduced to destitution and being anxiously desir- 
ous of providing for the children of such citizens, we 
wish to set aside land out of our domain to be a per- 
manent investment for the benefit of certain educa- 
tional institutions sufficient for the education of these 
children. We shall further insist that the institutions 
we have erected for educating our people shall be 
sustained by the United States under their Carlisle 
system. 

5. We will maintain our tribal governments as long 
as possible. 

6. Before relinquishing tribal government and be- 
fore the disintegration of land shall be made, we 
shall insist that all the conditions heretofore set up 
shall have been carried out. 

7. We will never consent to a territorial govern- 
ment or to a union with Oklahoma territory. 

8. When a change of government takes place we 
will ask that the proposed agreements provide admis- 
sion as a State of the Union with constitutional pro- 
visions irrepealable, protecting the property rights 
and political privileges of our people, the constitu- 
tion to be made by our own people, with absolute pro- 
hibition of the liquor traffic. 

We represent sixty-five thousand of sober, indus- 
trious, self-supporting and God-fearing people; own- 
ers of the entire soil of Indian Territory by solemn 
treaty and patented titles; people who came to a 
wilderness, driven by force, and made it a cultivated 
land: people who have erected schools, churches and 
courts of justice and governments under which they 
have found safety and happiness. We rely on the 
justice of our cause and the guidance of Divine Provi- 
dence and we appeal to the moral sentiment of a 
great and magnanimous nation, in whose hands is our 
ultimate destiny and in whose honorable national life 
and history we have earned a decent and honorable 
place. 

(Amended by Gov. Jno. F. Brown that it is the 
sense of this meeting and in our judgment we should 
be allowed twenty-five years before being required 
to assume state government.) 

The above resolution was unanimously adopted 
without a negative voice. 


gI10 


CHOCTAW DELEGATION. 


Green McCurtain, Principal Chief, Sans Bois, I. T., 
Ex-officio Chairman. 

J. S. Standley, Atoka, I. T. 

N. B. Ainsworth, McAlester, I. T. 

Amos Henry, Red Oak, I. T. 

A. S. Williams, Alikchi, I. T. 

Wesley Anderson, Tuskahoma, I. T. 

DPD. Co Garland, Janis, 1.2: 

E. N. Wright, Atoka, I. T. 

Ben Hampton, Caddo, I. T. 


CREEK DELEGATION. 


Roley McIntosh, Eufaula, I. T. 

G. W. Grayson, Eufaula, I. T. 

P. Porter, Muskogee, I. T. 

DM. Hodges Tulsa lawl: 

G. A. Alexander, Wetumka, I. T. 

W. A. Sapulpa, Sapulpa, I. T. 

Joseph Mingo, Wagoner, I. T. 
Concharte Micco, McDermott, I. T. 
Roland Brown, Okmulgee, I. T. 

J. H. Lynch, Secretary, Okmulgee, I. T. 
Robt. W. Stewart, Interpreter, Holdenville, I. T. 


CHEROKEE DELEGATION. 
S. H. Mayes, Principal Chief Cher. Na., Tahlequah, 
Doe 


D. W. Bushyhead, Chairman Cher. Com., Tahle- 
quah who k. 

Cc. V. Rogers, Oolagah, I. T. 

Te Kinney Waters, Braggs, I. T. 

Robert B. Ross, Tahlequah, I. T. 


SO ee 


ee oe ee ted 


mre 


nIpouRes peo 


Wm. Eubanks, Interpreter, Tahlequah, I. T. 
SEMINOLE DELEGATION. 


John F. Brown, Principal Chief Semi. Na., Sasak- 
Waa Laide 

Nuth Cap. Harjo, Wewoka, I. T. 

Wm. Cully, Sasakwa, I. T. 

Nokas Fixico, Wewoka, I. T. 

Thomas McGeisey, Maud, O. T. 


CHICKASAWS. 


1. M. V. Cheadle, Tishomingo, I. T. 

2. R. McLish, Ardmore, I. T. 

—Exhibit “G’ accompanying Report of Commission 
to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1894, 1895 and 1896. 


APPENDIX XLVI—8. 
MINORITY STATEMENT OF DR. E. N. WRIGHT. 


Atoka, I. T., Dec. 22, 1896. 
To the Honorable Dawes Commission. 

Sirs: In accordance with my statement made to 
your honorable body at the signing of the negotia- 
tions made between your Commission, on the part of 
the United States, and the Choctaw Commission, on 
the part of the Choctaw Nation, at Muskogee, De- 
cember 18, 1896, I hereby submit my reasons for not 
signing said agreement. 

Under the law creating our Commission to negoti- 
ate with your Commission everything of value includ- 
ing our government was placed in our hands to make 
the best terms possible, that our people might be 
protected in their property rights. This I understand 
was also the design of the government you represent. 
I must be candid in saying that the desire of neither 
of the governments was carried out in these negotia- 
tions, and I hereby submit my reasons for this con- 
clusion. 

ist. In the allotment of lands, the reserving of the 
mineral interests, and the placing of them in trust 
in the government of the United States for an un- 
limited time,,the revenues on the same to be used for 
the education of Indian children, is impracticable. 
For our mineral interests, especially coal, cover fully 
one-third of our country. And taking into considera- 
tion the possible demands for coal which would be 
supplied from this Territory, I believe I can state 
without contradiction that a thousand years hence 
will still find coal fields unworked, when in fifty or a 
hundred years hence it will be as difficult to find an 
Indian here, as it is to find wild buffalo on the West- 
ern plains. I am certain the United States Govern- 
ment would not care to assume a trust of such mag- 
nitude, and with the possible chance of continuing 


APPENDIX 


for such a long period. Hence it would not be long 
before the money arising from such developments will 
be controlled by the State or Territory, which we will 
sooner or later merge into, to be used, not for the 
benefit of the Indian children alone, but for all races 
alike, which would not be just. 

2d. In the allotment of our lands, you reserve the 
right to use a sufficient amount of the lands so allotted, 
for the development of all minerals, paying only a 
small amount to the individual for the use or destruc- 
tion of his or her lands. This will not be approved 
by the Choctaw people, for the following reasons: 

While in our last campaign placing the question of 
allotment before the people, they were led to accept 
it on the promise that when they received their land 
in allotment, and received a patent in fee simple to 
it, they would then be protected, and permitted to en- 
joy their rights in their lands. This your Commission 
promised when you addressed the Choctaw people on 
this subject. But through these propositions you are 
placing every citizen who may have anything of 
value in the lands allotted to him, in a position to be 
molested at any time a company or corporation may 
desire to develop said minerals, gas or oil, and at 
small remuneration to said Choctaw citizen, even 
though he may have said lands in a high state of 
cultivation, thereby making all developments on his 
part insecure. Thus you will defeat what I consider 
the most important question to our people, viz., a just 
allotment of lands. 

3. The provisions as to town-sites, I think, are too 
indefinite and place too much power in the hands of 
the commission and leave revenues to be derived by 
the Choctaw people from the sale of such town-sites 
too uncertain and speculative. And I am certain you 
will array against our national interests all people 
who have, through our laws, built substantial homes 
and improvements. The citizens of the towns in the 
Territory, have been an important factor in asking 
Congress for protection, and have succeeded in their 
efforts. Their opposition to this provision will be 
another means to stay the important question of al- 
lotment. 

4th. The coal companies, who through the laws of 
Congress and our own laws have been induced to 
invest millions of dollars to develop said coal; and 
on whom we have been, and are now principally de- 
pendent for revenues to carry on our government and 
schools, are, through the policy outlined in this agree- 
ment, which is very radical, and makes their invest- 
ment insecure, compelled to seek relief at the hands 
of Congress; which is another condition that will tend 
to defeat the agreement, and with it the question of 
allotment. 

5th. We were instructed under our law to settle all 
claims as to lands and moneys, that exist between our 
government and the United States from treaty stipu- 
lations, believing that when our tribal government 
becomes extinct we will be unable to get such settle- 
ments. The principal claim being what is known as 
the Leased District (comprising the Kiowa and Co- 
manche country, the Wichita reservation) and Greer 
County, which has lately been decided by the United 
States Supreme Court, as not belonging to Texas, but 
to the Choctaws. This, your Commission declined 
to treat on, but finally agreed that we might submit 
all our claims to the Senate of the United States as 
a board of arbitrators. Thus you are forcing our peo- 
ple into the hands of attorneys who will appear be- 
fore the Senate in behalf of our claims, and who sev- 
eral years ago, in 1889 I think, secured legislation in 
our Council that would allow them 25 per cent. of all 
moneys arising from the sale of these lands, compris- 
ing something over five million acres of land; which, 
at a dollar and a quarter an acre, will, after deduct- 
ing the Chickasaws’ one-fourth interest, give them 
over a million dollars, or about sixty dollars per 
capita if divided among our people. One of the prin- 
cipal objects of our negotiating was to save this great 
expense, and we were led to believe by your honor- 
able body, that this could be done. It is but right to 
save this expense, and strictly from a business stand- 
point, we should have a complete settlement of all 
claims, which I am sure your government desires. 

6th. In these agreements, you permit us to continue 
our government for a period of eight years; still you 
force us to place the greater portion of our revenues 
in the hands of your government for school purposes, 
thereby depriving our government of the necessary 


APPENDIX 


funds to run it, unless we establish a tax system, 
which will be a hardship on our people in face of the 
great expense every citizen will be compelled to bear 
on account of the contemplated changes in locating 
his lands. 

7th. My last reason is the great haste in which the 
negotiations, which look to the settlement of an 
estate of such magnitude, was consummated. To set- 
tle an estate equitably which involves the rights of 
fifteen thousand souls, which estate covers over six 
millions acres of land, in less than a month, is the 
height of folly. Our Commission was placed in a 
very embarrassing position by the threats made by 
you that if we did not come to terms before the holi- 
days, you would go back to Washington and make an 
adverse report which would probably be followed by 
radical legislation on the part of Congress. But I did 
not think, nor do I yet believe, Congress or the Presi- 
dent of the United States, desire that we should treat 
so important a question in such a haphazard way. 
Being one of the parties most prominent in asking 
our people to authorize negotiations with your com- 
mission, I could not, taking into consideration my 
reasons above stated, conscientiously affix my name 
to said agreement, nor can I ask the Choctaw people 
to ratify the same. I am confident, however, that 
negotiations can be made that will be satisfac- 
tory to both Governments, but more time must be 
given to accomplish it, and I will surely advocate 
such a course. 

Very respectfully, 
E. N. WRIGHT, Commissioner. 


APPENDIX XLVI—9. 


AN APPEAL OF THE CHEROKEES, CREEKS, SEMI- 
NOLES, CHOCTAWS, AND CHICKASAWS. 


To the Senate of the United States: 

We represent 70,000 faithful, law-abiding, liberty- 
loving people who have, perhaps, too blindly trusted 
in their treaties as sacred and incapable of being 
violated. 

The act of June 10, 1896, declared for the first time 
that it was the duty of the United States to establish 
a government in our country. It was the first declara- 
tion of a definite policy. 

Upon this declaration by Congress each of our five 
nations immediately authorized negotiations on the 
lines indicated by Congress, as soon as their legisla- 
tures met, as by law provided, beginning in August 
and ending in November, 1896. Could you have acted 
sooner? 

The Dawes Commission was absolutely engrossed 
with the settlement of very many thousands of citi- 
zenship cases up to December 14, and left for Wash- 
ington December 19, promising to return immediately 
after their Christmas holiday. 

Our commissions were authorized, ready, and will- 
ing to treat, and of this the United States Commission 
was fully advised (see Senate Ex. Docs. 94, 111, 112, 
etc.); but these important matters could not possibly 
be closed up in six days. 

It is now proposed (on the erroneous theory that we 
are not sincere in our purpose to treat) to put drastic 
legislation on an appropriation act (Indian, page 57), 
destroying our judiciary, paralyzing our executive de- 
partments, emasculating our legislative bodies, par- 
titioning and administering our great estates without 
our consent, without proper safeguards, and regard- 
less of vested rights, as a measure of coercing agree- 
ments we are ready to make without coercion. 

We earnestly appeal to your high sense of justice 
and to your magnanimity against this extreme 
measure. 

First, Because it is unnecessary. The record proves 
this (Senate Ex. Docs. 94, 111, 112), but, in addition, we 
here register our solemn declaration that our people 
are ready and earnestly intend treating on the lines 
heretofore indicated by Congress, that they have not 
had sufficient opportunity of negotiating after resolv- 
ing upon this course last fall. 

Second. This measure is unjust, because it puts our 
people under extreme duress and ruinous conditions, 
as a manifest and declared preliminary to a proposed 
negotiation. 

We feel that “consent” under such conditions is no 
consent at all, but the submission of the weak to the 
impatient violence of the strong, that will give our 


QII 


people a false idea of the great Republic and its cit- 
izenship. 

It is beneath the dignity of the United States to 
strike our people to the earth while inviting negotia- 
tion. We cannot believe that the advocates of this 
measure would feel justified in pressing it if they 
should examine the correspondence submitted and 
realize the sincerity of our purpose to negotiate. 

We earnestly trust that this solemn declaration, 
made on behalf of the sincerity of our people, will suf- 
fice to induce the Congress not to press at this time 
such an extreme and unnecessary measure. 

Ss. H. MAYES, J. B. JACKSON, 
Principal Chief G. W. DUKES, 
Cherokee Nation. BE. N. WRIGHT, 

G. W. BENGE, D. M. HAILEY, 


W. W. HASTINGS, Choctaws. 
Cherokee Delegates. R. M. HARRIS, 
JOHN F. BROWN, Governor 
Chief Chickasaw Nation. 
Seminole Nation. WM. L. BYRD, 
PORTER: ISAAC O. LEWIS, 


G. W. GRAYSON, 
G. A. ALEXANDER, 
WM. A. SAPULPA, 
Creek Delegates. 
—Congressional Record, 


WM. M. GUY, 
RICHARD McLISH, 
Chickasaw Delegates. 


54th Congress, 2d Session, 


Vol. XXTIX, pp. 1917-18. 


APPENDIX XLVI—10. 


Extract from 
THE COMMISSION OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES 
MET THE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE NA- 
TIONAL COUNCIL OF THE MUSKOGEE NATION, 
MONDAY, DECEMBER 14TH, 1896, IN THE PARLORS 
OF HOTEL ADAMS, MUSKOGEE, I. T. 


All members of the Dawes Commission present. 
At this point the interpreter stated the Chief wanted 
to know if the Commission was going to make their 
final report in reference to their finding with the three 
tribes only, and leave the other two out; that he un- 
in eae the Seminoles and Chickasaws will not be 

ere, 

General Armstrong, continuing, replied: “These two 
tribes have failed to appoint Commissioners to negoti- 
ate with us. 

“Tf this matter had been under consideration but for 
a short time, and it would be suggested that we give 
these people another chance to negotiate, why, then it 
would be hasty action not to give you plenty of time. 
You have been aware of this question for two years, 
and to my certain knowledge you have had these spe- 
cial propositions ever since last summer. So far as 
drawing up the papers is concerned, it requires very 
little time to do that. If we fail to negotiate, Congress 
will take charge of this matter and likely pass some 
legislation on the subject before the 4th of March, 
next. There is every prospect of an extra session of 
Congress, but I think they will settle something before 
the 4th of March. Congress says they are waiting for 
us—awaiting our action—awaiting our report. It has 
come to this, and we cannot delay it any longer. The 
Secretary of the Interior called on the Freedmen Com- 
mission recently for a report. The chairman of that 
Commission asked for further time, but was promptly 
advised by wire that no more time could be given. 

“We have been here three years. We have tried to 
get a treaty, and if we cannot get one, we want to dis- 
tinctly say so in our report, and that we are satisfied 
that these people will not voluntarily do anything, and 
will therefore recommend that Congress act in this 
matter as they see fit.” 

The Chief (through interpreter) stated that he 
thought all talks, propositions, etc., should be reduced 
to writing that his people might know what was being 
done in these conferences. He said he remembered in 
his young days, back in Alabama, that the United 
States government had granted these lands to the 
Creeks in severalty “as long as the grass grows; as 
long as the waters run,’’ and this Commission did not 
want to take any hasty action in regard to a change in 
their present tribal government, land tenure, ete. He 
said the United States government had promised that 


¢ 


gi2 


the lands would never be taken away from them, and 
that they would live here retaining their nationality 
and government. 

Senator Dawes (to interpreter): You say to him that 
this Commission will enter into no agreement with 
your nation without first submitting in writing, and 
after every cne of you perfectly understand it; that 
it will not be submitted to Congress until you ratify it, 
and not until Congress ratifies it will it be binding on 
you or the United States—so there can be no mistake 
as to its meaning and intent. 

The Chief (through interpreter) replied that he un- 
derstood the United States government had commis- 
sioned the Dawes’ Commission to come here and enter 
into negotiations with his government; that his people 
wanted to deliberate in this matter; that they wanted 
everything distinctly understood, and everything re- 
duced to writing, so there would be no mistake about 
what will be done. 

Judge Montgomery: They seem to have an idea that 
we are going to wait for the Chickasaws to appoint a 
Commission. We propose to act independently, and do 
not intend to wait for any other Nation to make a 
treaty. We propose to ask Congress to ratify the 
treaty we make. 

General Porter, on behalf of the Creek Commission, 
made the following statement: 

“T shall only make this remark. We have heard your 
arguments. We understand precisely your position in 
this matter, and we will take it under consideration 
and answer you as soon as possible, if tomorrow morn- 
ing. We do not wish to delay you any longer than is 
necessary and whether we agree to your propositions 
or not, we wish to say to you we shall entertain the 
highest regard for you, and our answers will be made 
with reference to what we believe to be our interests 
and what we understand to be our interests ourselves. 
We will notify you as soon aS we are prepared to 
make an answer, and will ask another conference. I 
make the suggestion that this joint conference now 
close. 

Senator Dawes: The conference is adjourned until 
tomorrow morning at nine o’clock at this place. 
—Correspondence between the Commission to the Five 
Civilized Tribes, and the representatives of the Creek 
Nation, 1896, Exhibit G@ pp. 151-52. 


APPENDIX XLVI—I1l1. 
PROTEST TO THE CHEROKEE AGREEMENT, 
January 31, 1899. 


Whereas, a certain agreement entered into on Janu- 
ary 14, 1890, by and between what is known as the 
Dawes commission and a like commission appointed by 
the authority of the Cherokee National Council, known 
as the Cherokee Commission, was, on January 31, 1899, 
submitted to the people of the Cherokee Nation to be 
voted upon; and, 

Whereas, said agreement was obnoxious in many of 
its provisions and was strenuously opposed by a large 
elass of Cherokee citizens, in that it deprived them of 
certain legu! vested rights; and, 

Whereas, the Cherokee people having always reposed 
confidence and trust in the United States Government 
in its guaranty to protect them in their personal and 
property rights: Therefore, 

We, the undersigned citizens of the Cherokee Nation, 
take this means of entering our solemn protest against 
the ratification, in its present form, of said agreement 
by the Congress of the United States, for the reasons 
hereinafter set forth, namely: - 

1. We oppose the individualization of the title to 
lands, and would corsent only to the apportionment of 
the same, allowing the title to remain, as at present, 
in the Cherokee Nation. 

2. We protest to the allotment of a part of our lands 
to white adopted citizens, for the reason that they 
have never paid into our treasury any sum of money 
or other considerations to become the owners of any 
share in a common estate, as have the Delawares and 
Shawnees adopted into our tribe. 

3. We oppese the surveying and sale of town lots as 
provided for in said agreement. 

4. We are opposed to section 65 of said agreement, 
which provides for reference to a board of arbitrators 
of Congress the claim of the Cherokee Nation, as ren- 


APPENDIX 


dered by an accounting of the experts, James A. Slade 
and Joseph T. Bender. 

5. We also protest against the provisions of section 
81 of said agreement, which provides for the payment 
to one John C. Hemphill and one William T. Hutchings 
for an alleged claim for money amounting to more 
than $8,000. If these parties have a contract with the 
Cherokee Nation of this nature, the Cherokee National 
Council is the proper place to make application for its 
payment. 

6. We are opposed to section 44, for the reason that 
it does not revoke, in specific language, the claim of 
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway to every 
alternate section of land for a distance of 10 miles on 
each side of said road through the land of the Cher- 
okee Nation, as per an act of Congress granting said 
claim in case the Cherokee title was extinguished. 

7. The Cherokee national debt should not be paid 
out of the principal of our invested funds, but out of 
such increment as might be made to accrue thereon, 
leaving the principal to the credit of the Cherokee 
people. 

8. The agreement fails to make an equal division of 
the Cherokee domain in that it ignores the coal and 
other minerals in the country. Said coal and other 
minerals should be reserved to the Cherokee people, 
as in the Choctaw and Chickasaw agreement. 

9. In the process of allotment many of our citizens 
will have to give up portions of their improvements, 
and the treaty fails to provide any indemnity in the 
premises. We cannot believe that Congress will allow 
such damage to fall upon our people without adequate 
remuneration. 

10. It will not be best to allow the executive and 
legislative department of the Cherokee Nation to ap- 
propriate and apply the moneys of the Cherokee people 
without the approval of the President of the United 
States, since it was on account of failure of the 
Cherokee government to safely administer his financial 
affairs that induced the United States to assume con- 
trol thereof. 

11. In the matter of disbursing public funds, it is 
known that many persons were fraudulently placed 
on the pay roll of Cherokee freedmen, while many 
others were placed on the Cherokee pay roll who were 
not citizens of the Cherokee Nation. All such persons 
were then allowed to vote on the ratification of the 
agreement, and that, too, while the Dawes Commis- 
sion, under authority of the Curtis law, stands clothed 
with the authority and charged with the duty to in- 
vestigate the Cherokee rolls and to omit therefrom all 
such names as have been placed thereon by fraud or 
“without authority of law.” Before passing on the 
ratification of the agreement, Congress should investi- 
gate the vote cast in the ratification aforesaid by 
Congress. 

12. We protest against the short time allowed be- 
tween the signing of said treaty and the day set for 
its ratification by the vote of the Cherokee people, the 
treaty not having been published in the Cherokee 
language more than three days prior to the day of 
voting thereon. And, furthermore, the chief’s proc- 
lamation calling the election was never published in 
the Cherokee language. 

13. We protest against said ratification as aforesaid 
for the reason that it was done unlawfully. According 
to Section VI, article 10, of the constitution of the 
Cherokee Nation, no change can be made in said con- 
stitution except by vote of all the Cherokee citizens at 
a general election, after the change contemplated had 
been published and promulgated at least six months 
previous to such general election. 

14. We protest against said ratification because the 
agreements between the two aforenamed commissions 
allots to each citizen of the Cherokee Nation a specific 
number of acres of land, to-wit, 120 acres, when it is 
totally impossible to ascertain the exact number of 
acres of land to be assigned to each citizen until 
accurate rolls of said citizens have been made out as 
provided by law, and no such roll has ever been law- 


fully made. 
WALTER A. DUNCAN, 
(And 33 Other Citizens of the Cherokee Nation.) 
—Congressional Record, Vol. XXXII, p. 2264. 
February 24, 1899. 
(As an expression of the opposition to the foregoing, 
the following editorial, under the caption of “A calam- 


ee 


APPENDIX 


ity,” appeared in the Indian Chieftain, of Vinita [Feb- 
ruary 23, 1899] immediately after the United States 
Senate refused to ratify the first Cherokee agreement.) 

“The defeat of the Dawes-Cherokee agreement in the 
Sub-committee of the Senate and House yesterday 
casts a gloom over the Cherokee Nation that will be 
hard to dispel. The great importance of the treaty to 
the Cherokees could scarcely have been realized by the 
congressional committee which decided yesterday to 
let it die in the committee rather than report it favor- 
ably. This treaty was reached after years of toilsome 
negotiation between the Dawes Commission and the 
Cherokees, and it afforded a final and satisfactory set- 
tlement of a vexed question and one that has been of 
great concern to the government. The Cherokees at 
the present juncture, feel that they have been the vic- 
tims of political maneuvering, and that the govern- 
ment of the United States has suffered a few political 
shysters to dictate its policy in a matter that affects 
the personal property rights of more than thirty thou- 
sand Indian citizens. The work of the Dawes Commis- 
sion has been set aside, and its representations to the 
Indians declared of no effect.” 


Tams Bixby. 


Tams Bixby was bern at Staunton, Virginia, Decem-. 


ber 12, 1855. When he was a year old, his parents, who 
were in humble circumstances, moved to Minnesota, 
ultimately settling at Red Wing, a year or two later. 
His early education was received in a parish school, 
supplemented by a year in the public schools, when he 
was twelve. He then entered the bakery and confec- 
tionery shop of his father, where he mastered the 
details of the business so that he took over its man- 
agement when his father died, seven years later. From 
that he tock leave to engage in the hotel business. In 
1884, he became interested in the printing and publish- 
ing business, as editor and manager, successively, of 
several local papers at Red Wing. In this way, he 
became interested in politics, serving first as chairman 
of the County Republican Committee and then as sec- 
retary of the State committee. His first public office 
was that of secretary of the State Railway and Ware- 
house Commission. In 1889 he was selected as private 
secretary of Governor William R. Merriam, a position 
in which he was retained during the successive admin- 
istrations of Governors Knute Nelson and David M. 
Clough. In 1897, the newly inaugurated McKinley 
administration had him slated for appointment as 
register of the U. S. Treasury, which he was ready to 
accept when he was suddenly offered the appointment 
as member of the Dawes Commission, which he ac- 
cepted. He came to Muskogee, a “carpet bagger’” 
appointee, as were all of the other members of that 
commission, yet he never was a “carpet bagger’” in 
spirit, since he immediately made the interests of the 
people of the Indian Territory—both red and white— 
his interests. Senator Dawes, who was growing feeble 
with his advancing years, seldom came to the Indian 
Territory and never stayed long, so, as vice-chairman 
and acting chairman of the Commission, Tams Bixby 
was clothed with great power and responsibility. The 
performance of his duties was met unostentatiously 
but faithfully. It is doing no one else any injustice to 
state that, during most of the last decade preceding 
the transition from the territorial régime to statehood, 
he filled the largest place in the life and activities of 
the Indian Territory, yet he did it quietly and modestly 
as well as efficiently. In 1905, when the Commission to 
the Five Civilized Tribes expired by limitation, Mr. 
Bixby was appointed as the sole commissioner to wind 
up its affairs. He had always retained an interest in 
the publishing company at Red Wing and, in Mus- 
kKogee, he became interested in the Phoenix Publishing 
Company. When his official tenure was ended, he 
returned to Minnesota for a time, serving two years as 
manager of the St. Paul ‘Pioneer Press,” after which 
he came back to Muskogee in the further development 
of which he was very active. He was one of the pro- 
jectors and the chief promoter of the Muskogee Free 
State Fair. His interest in life and its activities con- 
tinued unabated to the end. He died at Kansas City, 
while en route home from California, January 17, 
1922. Aside from his work in and for his home town 


Okla—58 


913 


of Muskogee, he is worthy of remembrance as a man 
who left his mark on Oklahoma in a very beneficial 


way. 
APPENDIX XLVI—12. 


DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN COMPLETING 
THE ROLLS OF THE CREEK NATION. 


The Dawes Commission encountered many difficulties 
in completing the rolls of the Creek Nation. One of 
the chief causes of the “Snake Indian Uprising,” so 
called, early in 1901, in the Creek Nation, was due to 
the opposition on the part of the full-blood Creeks to 
enrollment by the Dawes Commission. This excite- 
ment had practically subsided by May, 1901, but it was 
still necessary for the Commission to resort to United 
States court proceedings in order that a number of 
leaders might be enrolled. 

Another one of the difficulties encountered was iden- 
tification of the Creeks, as their names appeared on the 
old tribal rolls, for entry on the new roll. The Com- 
mission in its report for 1900, (pp. 19-20) gave the fol- 
lowing as an illustration of this difficulty: 

A Many of the full-blood Indians have been 
known by five or six different names, such as Creek 
or Euchee names, English names, Busk names (a name 
given them by the tribal band to which they belong), 
and possibly a name given them while attending school, 
while many also have been known by their given 
names. An actual case illustrates the difficulty of 
identification: One John Buck appears before the Com- 
mission for enrollment. A careful search is thereupon 
made on the rolls for his name, resulting in its not 
being found. After diligent search for different other 
names by which he has been known, his name is finally 
found on the rolls as ‘Co e cath tahny Yah lah pon co 
conthlany.’ ” 

A third difficulty arose in enrolling the Creek freed- 
men, with regard to whom the Commission reported 
as, follows, in 1899: (p. 13.) 

Particularly difficult is the enrollment of 
Creek freedmen, whose rights thereto are dependent 
upon their names or that of their ancestors appearing 
upon the roll made by J. W. Dunn (United States 
Indian agent) prior to March 14, 1867, or upon admis- 
sion to citizenship by proper authority since that time. 
The colored population of the Creek Nation is large, 
and it is safe to say that not a dozen freedmen in the 
entire nation at the time of the passage of the Curtis 
Act knew or remembered that there was ever a roll 
made by J. W. Dunn; yet so rapidly does the colored 
race transmit information of this character from one 
to another that nearly every man, woman and child in 
the nation now recognizes the importance of being on 
the ‘Dunn roll’ or being a descendant of some one who 
was; and so persistent are they in their efforts to 
establish a status thereunder that the strictest and 
most vigilant care must be exercised in the identifica- 
tion of applicants. 

“The chief difficulty in this regard lies in the fact 
that the ‘Dunn roll,’ so called, was prepared immedi- 
ately after the abolishment of slavery, at which time 
surnames among slaves was practically unknown. 
When anything more than a given name was neces- 
sary, the names of former masters were assumed, and 
it was by this method, largely, that Major Dunn en- 
rolled the Creek freedmen in 1867. Since that time, 
however, a very large percentage of the freedmen 
have changed their names. After a period of forty 
years it is not an easy matter to identify those whose 
names appear on the roll in question. In view of the 
fact that each freedman who is found entitled to en- 
roliment will receive nearly two hundred acres of 
land, and that most families will thus receive several 
hundred acres, it is not surprising that considerable 
effort should be made by these people to get on the 
rolls. Many of those now claiming have been recog- 
nized by the tribe as citizens and have been enrolled 
one or more times on tribal rolls, without having been 
admitted by act of council or otherwise legally acquir- 
ing that enrollment. That a monetary consideration 
has been the medium by which both freedmen and 
others have in some instances gained admission to the 
tribal rolls can not- be questioned and, as the law 
authorizes the commission to eliminate such names 
ad the tribal membership, progress is necessarily~ 
slow.” 


Q14 


APPENDIX XLVIT—1. 
MURRAY’S LETTER TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. 


“The Enabling Act, aS you are aware, contains a 
number of restrictions and limitations upon the sover- 
eignty of the citizenship of the proposed State than 
ever before required of a people in the history of the 
admission of States. Indeed, it contains all the restric- 
tions and limitations ever enjoined by Congress be- 
fore in the formation of State Governments under 
the Federal Constitution, and more. In addition to 
the necessary and proper limitations that the Consti- 
tution shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of 
the United States, other restrictions are enjoined, 
to-wit: Limitations upon the power to tax certain 
property; the fixing of the State Capital at a certain 
point for a given period of years; the forming of 
Congress of five Congressional Districts—limitations 
never before required of any State. It is not our pur- 
pose to complain of the restrictions and limitations. 
We have accepted them in good faith. Notwithstand- 
ing their acceptance, the daily Republican press is 
filled with numerous criticisms to the effect that the 
legislative apportionment is an ‘outrageous gerry- 
mander,’ and that other unnamed provisions of the 
Constitution are repugnant to your idea of state- 
craft and that their elimination is the price of State- 
hood. While we do not yield the point that a State, 
in the exercise of its policies, or in the adoption of 
its economic policies, is either expected or required 
to frame a Constitution to suit either the Executive 
branch of the United States, yet, in view of the busi- 
ness interests of this State and, in view of your 
authority granting us Statehood, and believing in the 
integrity of your promise to this people upon your 
trip through these territories, and that you would 
not purposely further delay the blessings of self- 
government to one and a half million people, I, as 
President of the Constitutional Convention, respect- 
fully request and solicit from you an expression upon 
the Constitution, a copy of which is now on file with 
the Honorable Attorney General, and thus give us 
an opportunity to eliminate and provisions which will 
be necessary to Secure executive approval. In view 
of the fact that the convention will be reconvened 
on the 10th day of July, as evidenced by a call, a 
copy of which I herewith send you, your expression 
of disapproval at this time would enable the con- 
vention to eliminate the objectionable provisions, if 
any, and would thus subserve to the interests of every 
citizen in this State, irrespective of party, creed or 
color. I assure you that our citizens are committed 
to Statehood as of first importance, and that party 
success or party advantage sinks into insignificance 
with all classes in comparison with the one thing, 
Statehood now, and without further delay. It is with 
you, Mr. President, to state the causes of further delay 
and give us this opportunity to remove them. 

“Since from your Executive approval or disapproval 
there is no appeal, we submit there can be no im- 
propriety in your now stating your opinion of any 
provision in the Constitution. Sinee your failure 
would cause you to do so later, why not state them 
now, and thus save us from further expense and our 
business interests from irreparable injury? 

‘Tt being human to err, we are prone to mistakes 
and shall be glad to accept your superior counsel and 
advice in the spirit in which I am sure that you 
would give it; for I am sure that it would be given 
in the spirit of friendly criticism and wholesome ad- 
vice, rather than such criticisms as have come through 
an interested corporate and partisan press, aS we 
have in this State, who condemn us without pointing 
out the objections, and who persistently lead our 
citizens to believe that the promise from you that you 
will withhold Executive proclamation, without giving 
us the benefit of the knowledge, which they claim 
to possess, of the provisions objectionable to you. 

“You will observe from the call which I herewith 
send you, that the undersigned has appointed a com- 
mittee to take and receive testimony and receive sug- 
gestions of any kind from all parties who attack the 
integrity and fairness of the legislative apportionment. 
The charge ‘gerrymander’ is easily made, but never 
in framing the legislative districts (which in a meas- 
ure was a guess, because of the rapid growth and 


APPENDIX 


increase in population of the different sections of 
our territory), did the minority of the convention 
make a request of me. 

“T assure you that the overwhelming majority of 
the Republicans of this State desire Statehood, al- 
though the machinery of the party is in the control 
of those interested, it seems, more in maintaining 
their appointive positions than in serving the people 
(or even their own party), are seeking, through court 
proceedings, the press and otherwise, to create delay 
and increase the uncertainties to the detriment of the 
business interests of the State and to the injury of 
all classes of our citizens.” 


APPENDIX XLVII—2. 
ELECTION PROCLAMATION. 


To the Public, Greeting: 

Whereas, pursuant to an Act of Congress entitled: 
‘An Act to enable the people of Oklahoma and of the 
Indian Territory to form a Constitution and State 
Government and to be admitted into the Union on an 
equal footing with the original States; and to enable 
the people of New Mexico and of Arizona to form a 
Constitution and State Government and to be ad- 
mitted into the Union on an equal footing with the 
original States,’ approved June 16, 1906, and herein 
after referred to as the ‘Enabling Act,’ Delegates 
were duly elected; and, 

Whereas, Said Delegates so elected did, on the sec- 
ond Tuesday after said election, meet at the city of 
Guthrie, the seat of government of said Oklahoma 
Territory, and organize as a Convention; and, 

Whereas, After such organization said Delegates 
in Conventicn assembled, did declare that they adopted 
the Constitution of the United States on behalf of the 
people of the proposed State of Oklahoma; and, 

Whereas, Said Constitutional Convention, did by or- 
dinance irrevocable, accept the terms and conditions 
of said Enabling Act: and, 

Whereas, Said Convention did thereupon form a 
Constitution and State Government for said proposed 
State of Oklahoma; and, 

Whereas, In pursuance of a resolution of said Con- 
vention, the said Constitution of said proposed State of 
Oklahoma engrossed and enrolled upon parchment, 
signed by tke officers of said Convention and certain 
members thereof, and attested by the Secretary of the 
Territory of Oklahoma under the Great Seal of said 
Territory of Oklahoma, was on the 22d day of July, 
A. D. 1907, filed in the office of said Secretary and is 
now on file in said office; and, 

Whereas, Said Convention did, after said Constitu- 
tion and State Government for said proposed State 
of Oklahoma had been so formed as aforesaid, provide 
by ordinance, as amended on the 15th day of July, 
A. D., 1907, entitled: 

“An ordinance providing for an election at which 
the proposed Constitution for the proposed State of 
Oklahoma shall be submitted to the people thereof 
for ratification or rejection, and submitting separately 
to the people the proposed State of Oklahoma the 
proposed Prohibition article, making, substantially, 
the term of the Enabling Act uniformly applicable 
to the entire State for ratification or rejection, and 
for the election of certain State, District, County and 
Township Officers provided for by said proposed Con- 
stitution, and for the election of members of the 
Legislature of said proposed State of Oklahoma, and 
five Representatives to Congress, “for submitting said 
proposed Constitution to the people of said proposed 
State and for its ratification or rejection at an elec- 
tion to be held at a time fixed in said amendment 
ordinance, to-wit, on the 17th day of September, A, 
D., 1907, at which election the qualified voters for 
said proposed Constitution, and for or against any 
provisions separately submitted; and, 

Whereas, By said amended ordinance it is provided, 
that at said election a separate provision adopted 
by said Convention, that is to say, a proposition as 
to whether or not the manufacture, sale, barter, giv- 
ing away or otherwise furnishing intoxicating liquors 
shall be permitted in said proposed State for a period 
of twenty-one years from the date of its admission 
into the Union, and hereafter until the people of the 
State otherwise provide by amendment of said Con- 


ee ee ee a 


Se 


~~  —. 


APPENDIX 


stitution and proper State legislation, the said prop- 
osition being, “shall the provisions for Statewide 
Prohibition be Adopted?” and, 

Whereas, it is provided by said amended ordinance, 
that, at the time and place of said election for the 
ratification or rejection of said proposed Constitution, 
there shall be held an election for officers for a full 
State Government, including all of the elective State, 
District, County and Township Officers, provided for 
by the provisions of said Constitution, members of the 
Legislature and five Representatives to Congress; and, 

Whereas, Said amended ordinance, certified by the 
President and Secretary of said Convention, was on 
the 22d day of July, A. D., 1907, filed in the office of 
the Secretary of said Territory of Oklahoma, and is 
now on file in said office; and, 

Whereas, Section twenty-one (21) of said amended 
ordinance makes it the duty of the Governor of 
the Territory of Oklahoma to issue proclamation giv- 
ing the puklic notice of the time and place of holding 
said election. 

Now, therefore, I, Frank Frantz, Governor of the 
Territory of Oklahoma, by authority of said amended 
ordinance, do hereby make proclamation giving notice 
that the elections hereinbefore mentioned and pro- 
vided for will be held in each and all election and 
voting precincts in each and every County and Dis- 


trict in and throughout the said proposed State of: 


Oklahoma, on Tuesday, the 17th day of September, 
A. D., 1907, at and between the hours of said day 
fixed by law, at which elections the qualified electors 
for said proposed Constitution, and for or against the 
separate provision separately submitted as aforesaid, 
and for any and all of the elective officers for a full 
State Government, State District, County and Town- 
ship, and members of the Legislature and Represen- 
tatives to Congress hereinbefore mentioned. 

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused the Great Seal of the Territory of Okla- 
homa to be affixed thereto, at the City of Guthrie, 
County of Logan, Territory of Oklahoma, this 24th 


day of July, A. D., 1907. 
FRANK FRANTZ, 
(SEAL) Governor of the Territory of Oklahoma. 
Attest: 
CHARLES H. FILSON, 
Secretary of Oklahoma Territory. 


APPENDIX XLVII—3. 
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S PROCLAMATION. 


“By the President of the United States of America— 
A Proclamation: : 

“Whereas, the Congress of the United States did 
by an act approved on the 16th day of June, one 
thousand nine hundred and six, provide that the in- 
habitants of the Territory of Oklahoma and of the 
Indian Territory might, under and upon the conditions 
prescribed in said act, adopt a constitution and be- 
come the State of Oklahoma, and 

“Whereas, by the said act provision was duly made 
for the election of a constitutional convention to form 
a constitution and State government for the said 
proposed State; and , . 

“Whereas, it appears from the information laid 
before me that such convention was duly elected and 
such constitution and State government were thereby 
duly formed, and 

“Whereas, by the said act the said convention was 
further authorized and empowered to provide by or- 
dinance for submitting the said constitution to the 
people of the said State for ratification or rejection, 
and likewise for the ratification or rejection of any 
provisions thereof to be by the said convention sep- 
arately submitted, and 

“Whereas it has been certified to me, as required 
by the said act, by the governor of the Territory 
of Oklahoma and by the judge senior in service in 
the United States Court of Appeals in the Indian 
Territory that a majority of the legal votes cast at 
an election duly provided for by ordinance, as required 
by said act, have been cast for the adoption of said 
constitution, and 

“Whereas, a copy of the said constitution has been 
certified to me, as required by said act, together with 
the articles, propositions and ordinances pertaining 


915 


thereto, including a separate proposition for State- 
wide prohibition which has been certified to me as 
having been adopted by a majority of the electors at 
the election aforesaid, and 

“Whereas, it appears from the information laid 
before me that the convention aforesaid after its or- 
ganization and before the formation of the said con- 
stitution duly declared on behalf of the people of the 
said proposed State that they adopted the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and 

“Whereas, it appears, that the said Constitution 
and Government of the proposed State of Oklahoma 
are Republican in form and that the said Constitu- 
tion makes no distinction in civil or political rights 
on account of race or color, and is not repugnant to 
the Constitution of the United States or to the prin- 
ciples of the Declaration of Independence, and that 
it contains all of the six provisions expressly required 
ces 3 of the said act to be therein contained; 
an 

“Whereas, it further appears from the information 
laid before me that the convention above mentioned 
did by ordinance irrevocable accept the terms and 
conditions of the said act, as required by Section 
22 thereof, and that all the provisions of the said act 
approved on the 16th day of June, one thousand nine 
hundred and six, have been duly complied with. 

“Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President 
of the United States of America, do, in accordance 
with the provisions of the said act of Congress of 
June 16, 1906, declare and announce that the result 
of the said election, wherein the constitution formed 
as aforesaid was submitted to the people of the pro- 
posed State of Oklahoma for ratification or rejection, 
was that the said Constitution was ratified together 
with a provision for State-wide prohibition, separate- 
ly submitted at the said election; and the State of 
Oklahoma is to be deemed admitted by Congress into 
the Union under and by virtue of the said act on an 
equal footing with the original States. 

“In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 
and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. 
Done at the city of Washington this 16th day of 
November in the year of our Lord one thousand nine 
hundred and seven, and of the Independence of the 
United States of America the one hundred and thirty- 


second. 
“THHODORE ROOSEVELT. 
By the President: 
ELIHU ROOT, Secretary of State.” 


APPENDIX XLVIII—1. 
JACK LOVE. 


John E. (“Jack’’?) Love was born in San Augustine, 
Texas, June 6, 1857. His boyhood and youth were 
cast in reconstruction days, when Texas’ schools were 
few in number and far from being as efficient as they 
became in a later and happier era. Consequently, 
the young “Jack” Love (for he was never known by 
any other name), did not receive many educational 
advantages other than in a primary and intermediate 
way, though he had one or two years as a student at 
the Sam Houston Normal, at Huntsville, Texas. How- 
ever, he was a great reader and was largely self- 
educated. But, he was not born for a scholastic ca- 
reer; instead, he loved life in the open. He developed 
into a magnificent specimen of physical manhood, 
standing about six feet four inches in height and 
weighing around two hundred and_ seventy-five 
pounds, with no surplus flesh, and handsome enough 
to have served as a model for a Greek sculptor. With 
this splendid physique, he was also blessed with a 
mentality and a personality that many more preten- 
tious men might well have envied. 

After having taught school for a term or two and 
seeing extended service as a cow puncher and spend- 
ing virtually all of his youth on the ranches and 
ranges of the Great Plains in Western Texas, he came 
to Oklahoma at the first land opening, in 1889, locat- 
ing at Oklahoma City, where he immediately became 
aman of prominence. In 1891, he was elected a mem- 
ber of the municipal council; two years later, when 
the Cherokee Outlet was opened to settlement, Gov- 
ernor William C. Renfrow selected Jack Love for 
appointment to the office of sheriff of Woodward 
County, at its organization. Woodward County was 


916 


a tract of land nearly sixty miles square in those 
days, with a sparse and somewhat intractible popu- 
lation, so the position of county sheriff was far from 
being a sinecure. However, the presence of Jack Love 
in such a position, with his unvarying kindness, his 
firmness and his unquestionable courage, had a very 
quieting effect and, more than any other single per- 
auaks influence, helped to tame Northwestern Okla- 
oma. 

Jack Love was affectionately called ‘Colonel’ by 
his friends, though due to ineligibility of age, he 
never saw military service. He was always found in 
the front ranks doing his part of patriotic work that 
has to be carried on at home, incident to warfare. 
In his last illness he asked that the flag might be 
placed on the lawn near the window, so that he might 
enjoy its beauty to tne last. 

He made his home at Woodward continuously from 
his settlement there, in 1893, until he took up his 
duties as a member of the Corporation Commission, 
in 1907. The affection existing between him and Tem- 
ple Houston, the noted pioneer attorney of Woodward, 
who like himself, was a native Texan, and son of 
General Sam Houston, might have been likened to 
that of David and Jonathan. 

After the Oklahoma Constitution had been com- 
pleted and submitted to the people for consideration, 
Jack Love announced himself a candidate for a mem- 
ber of the Corporation Commission, which he consid- 
ered at that formative period, to be the highest within 
the power of the people to give, and though often 
importuned to make the race for Governor, he always 
said he would prefer being Corporation Commissioner. 
This was especially true at that time, since it had 
long been said that the railroads “could put over” 
anything they wanted in Oklahoma. The boast had 
the effect of a challenge to him and, in his candidacy, 
he made no secret that, if he were elected to member- 
ship on the Corporation Commission, he intended to 
‘make the railroads toe the mark.’ His election, 
therefore, was far from pleasing to the corporation 
officials, and especially since at the time of the organi- 
zation of the Commission, he was selected its first 
chairman, a position he held until his death. It was 
said that his election to the Commission, ‘was a pill 
that always left a bad taste in the mouths of the 
corporations.” 

A little story was related about E. H. Ripley, presi- 
dent of the Santa Fe Railroad, and other corporation 
representatives, who visited Guthrie shortly after the 
state government inauguration to give the new Cor- 
poration Commission “the once over.’ The quarters 
occupied at that time were far from being as spacious 
as those which were assigned in after years for its 
use in the new capitol, at Oklahoma City, conse- 
quently there were but few chairs in the room, and 
those all occupied, when Mr. Ripley and associates 
came in. One of the clerks of the Commission, with 
a smile on his face, rushed over to him and said: 
neuen a minute, Mr. Ripley, and I will get you a 
chair.” 

“Hold on there, now; hold on; let ’em stand; they 
kept us standing for twenty years,” Chairman Love 
drawled, in his southern accent. Ripley and the others 
stood. 

Chairman Love would have no private conferences. 
Whenever a representative of the railroad companies 
or other corporations came to “see” the Commission, 
the conference was held all right, but all doors were 
open, and the windows too, if the weather permitted. 
“There is no private business that the people of the 
state have not some interest in,’ was Chairman Love’s 
oft-expressed view. Secret conferences were unknown 
in his department during his incumbency. 

Jack Love was a man of great dignity, as well as 
rugged honesty. This he could lay aside when in the 
presence of friends, and he was reputed to have had 
an endless store of anecdotes and stories—humorous, 
thrilling and enlightening. He was a man of bound- 
less generosity, with a “heart as big as that of an 
ox,” and delighted in displaying his hospitable spirit. 
He was never married. He died June 1, 1918, at Min- 
eral Wells, Texas, whither he had gone in quest of 
health. He was buried in Oklahoma City, where his 
body lay in state in the Capitol building, the funeral 
services taking place in the House of Representatives 
and attended by a concourse of friends, which so 
worthily attested the passing of one of Oklahoma’s 
greatest pioneers. The monument that marks his last 


¢ 


APPENDIX 


resting place was a token of his old friend, the late 
Jake L. Hamon. 


APPENDIX XLVITI—2. 
PATRICK SARSFIELD NAGLE, 


Patrick Sarsfield Nagle, lawyer and politician, was 
born at Newport, Decatur County, Indiana, November 
23, 1858, son of George and Mary (Burke) Nagle. His 
father, a native of Castletown Roche, County Cork, 
came from Ireland about 1836; he was a farmer 
though most of the Nagles in his line, were lawyers. 
The mother of the subject was descended from a 
brother of Edmund Burke. The Nagles removed to 
Pottawatomie County, Kansas, in 1876. He received 
his preliminary education at St. Mary’s (Kansas) 
Academy, subsequently becoming a student at St. 
Mary’s College. At the academy he and his brother 
played baseball under the preceptorship of Charles 
Cominskey, destined to become one of the great pro- 
fessional ballplayers of his day, and afterward cele- 
brated as the owner of the Chicago ‘‘White Sox.” Five 
days before he attained his majority he was elected 
register of deeds for Pottawatomie County, as a Dem- 
ocrat, although the county was strongly Republican. 
He served for two terms. 

He “made the run” to Oklahoma when the Territory 
was opened, in 1889, locating at Kingfisher. Meanwhile 
he had studied law and was admitted to the Kansas 
bar, in 1884, and in that year began the practice of 
his profession in Pottawatomie County. At Kingfisher 
he became the partner of Matthew J. Kane, with 
whom his subsequent career was destined to be inter- 
woven. President Cleveland found it difficult to get 
the right man to act as United States marshal of the 
Territory. Two men had tried it and had given it up 
and, finally, Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior, 
suggested Nagle, who was not a candidate, and he was 
appointed. He made Kane his deputy, serving during 
1896-97. His political career was checkered and 
stormy. In 1896 he voted for the Democratic gold 
standard candidates. Meanwhile, however, his law 
practice increased to such an extent that his reputa- 
tion became more than State-wide and he figured on 
one side or the other in almost every case of promi- 
nence at and around Kingfisher. Kane drew him back 
into politics, he acting as Kane’s campaign manager 
for member of the Ponatitutional Convention and 
aiding in Kane’s election as one of the first justices of 
the State Supreme Court. 

In 1908 Nagle was candidate for the Democratic 
nomination of the United States Senate, but, by this 
time, he had espoused Socialism to such an extent 
that he was easily defeated by Gore. After the elec- 
tion he renounced his connection with the Democratic 
party and became a Socialist leader. At the same time 
he divorced himself finally and completely from _ the 
Catholic Church. He threw himself into the work of 
Socialist propaganda, paying especial attention to the 
wrongs, as he conceived them, of the tenant farmer. 
By pamphlet, by newspaper articles and in public 
speeches he produced a prodigious amount of propa- 
ganda, having found in the tenant farmer a cause to 
which he could freely give all his abundant powers. 
In 1914 he was the Socialist nominee for the United 
States Senate, and in 1918 he was defeated for the 
nomination for Governor. The leaders of the dominant 
party held him largely responsible for what they con- 
sidered the dangerous increase in the Socialist vote, 
which reached 70,000 in 1916. Then came the European 
war and the disintegration of the Socialist party. 

Nagle had never been a good party dogmatist, and 
had now become convinced that radicals could, for 
the present, accomplish more by throwing their 
strength first to one and then another of the old 
parties. He brought about the election of a Republi- 
can to Congress, in 1919, and then to the United 
States Senate, in 1920. He was drawn into the guber- 
natorial campaign in 1922 as J. C. Walton’s manager. 
The entire strategy both of the primary and final 
campaigns was largely Nagle’s, and it is common 
knowledge in Oklahoma that he wrote most of the 
deposed Governor’s speeches and messages. 

He was a member of the various bar associations 
and of the Friends of Irish Freedom. At his death 
the “Daily Oklahoman,’ Oklahoma City, which had 
always opposed everything Nagle stood for, said: 
“Pat Nagle, a lone wolf, a man who played the politi- 


cal game single-handed, who tracked alone. His, a ‘ 


¥ 


APPENDIX 917 


powerful mind, an insight into the psychology of the 
mass of people that was uncanny. His, a spirit of 
honor that never betrayed a friend, coupled with a 
word that with his hand on it was equivalent to a 
bond, but above all things else a man of mystery. He 
gave no confidences, yet his voice was authority. The 
deepest man in Oklahoma and the outstanding figure 
in politics, is the estimate which both friends and 
enemies make.” 

Patrick Nagle found his thrill in defending the un- 
fortunate;. in fighting oppressive and reactionary in- 
stitutions and customs. He was known far and wide 
for his intellectual and moral honesty, for his toler- 
ance and his broad-mindedness. He never attempted 
to trick another lawyer out of a judgment on a pure 
technicality. He was interested in life, in art, in 
literary studies. He seemed to belong to Greenwich 
Village rather than to the frontier. Yet on that 
frontier he was a rare spirit, intellectually head and 
shoulders above his associates at political round 
tables. There was no one in Oklahoma who could 
match his insight into political economy or vie with 
him in forecasting and providing against an enemy 
move. He never let the offensive be taken from him 
in a campaign. His plans were complete far in ad- 
vance of the events with which they were concerned, 
and if unfortunate things occurred he was resourceful 
enough to adapt himself to the situation and ambush 
his opponent at the most unexpected moment. 4 

Nagle was an Oklahoma Warwick. He fought fire 
with fire. His were the tactics of the diplomat and 
his foes so respected him. He was never built for 
teamwork or for harness. He yielded only to his 
ideals and bent his life toward their attainments. 

He was married September 10, 1894, to Angie, 
daughter of Alexander McCartney, a farmer of King- 
fisher, Oklahoma. She survives him with two sons, 
Paul Revere, a drilling contractor, and Patrick S. 
Nagle, Jr. He died at Oklahoma City, January 12, 
1924. In all of his later political activities he had the 
confidence and inspiring encouragement of his wife, 
whose mind and courage were in harmony with his 
own. From 1923 to 1927, Mrs. Nagle served as a mem- 
ber of the State Board of Affairs, in which position 
she not only gave close attention to the details of the 
State’s business, but also lived up to the family repu- 
tation for unswerving honesty. 


APPENDIX XLVIII—3. 
THE COST OF DROUTH. 


The aggregate losses from drouth on the five major 
field crops, namely, corn, wheat, oats, Kaffir corn 
(grain only—not forage), and lint cotton, in Okla- 
homa, during the eight trying years just enumerated, 
approximated twice the loss sustained by the valley 
of the Mississippi River during the great floods of 
1927. What the loss would have been had the aggre- 
gate included those sustained on forage and hay crops, 
field, garden truck, orchard and vineyard crops, and 
the enormous losses sustained by the live stock in- 
dustry would have swelled this astounding aggregate 
to a vastly larger figure. These were losses sustained 
by farmers, ranchmen and others who seek their 
gains directly from the soil. What the secondary 
losses of the commercial, banking or transportation 
interests were is beyond conjecture. Yet, as the years 
ordinarily run, Oklahoma generally has enough rain- 
fall to mature crops throughout the greater part of 
the state, if the surplus storm-water were properly 
conserved during the seasons of greatest precipita- 
tion. 

Although Oklahoma’s aggregate losses on all forms 
of crops, property, and business during the period just 
mentioned was easily three and perhaps four times 
as great as that sustained by the Mississippi valley 
lands during the great flood of 1927, and though thou- 
sands of farm homes and homesteads had to be aban- 
doned temporarily, if not permanently, the country 
at large was never asked to take up a subscription in 
behalf of unfortunate and, in many cases almost 
starving, people. Neither were the good offices of the 
Red Cross ever invoked to alleviate their distress or 
misery. Indeed, the independent, self-reliant, and 
courageous resourcefulness of the people of Western 
Oklahoma, like those of the other portions of the 
Great Plains region, was, and is, such that they face 
such disasters uncomplainingly, to start anew, to re- 
build their shattered fortunes. Many of these peo- 


ple had to abandon their homes, for the time being, 
and seek employment elsewhere, but a large part of 
these eventually returned with hopeful hearts to once 
more face the problem of trying to conquer the capri- 
cious extremes of the sometimes hostile climate. 

In this connection it may be remarked, that Okla- 
homa has several times experienced drouth losses in 
a single season which aggregated two or three times 
as much as the losses sustained in this fall of 1923, 
without arousing any particular public attention, or 
causing any action at the hands of the State Legisla- 
ture. If the surplus storm-waters of the Great Plains 
region could be stored in the days of abundant rain- 
fall, against the coming of a period of drouth, the 
benefit would be twrordlaconee only reducing, if not 
preventing flood losses but also, through the medium 
of evaporation, and greatly reduced drouth loss as 
the result of a consequent increase in atmospheric 
humidity. Any practical and satisfactory solution of 
the problem of floods in the river valleys of central 
and eastern Oklahoma will necessarily include a re- 
ciprocal consideration of the problems of drouth, 
water conservation, evaporation and increased atmos- 
pheric humidity or moisture in Hastern Oklahoma and 
adjacent portions of neighboring States. This can be 
done by constructing a few large reservoirs to be 
filled from over-flow rivers, carrying large amounts 
of silt, sand, and mud. The ultimate solution will be 
found in the construction of multiplied thousands of 
small artificial ponds and medium-sized reservoirs, 
which will keep most of the flood-waters from ever 
reaching the river. 


APPENDIX XLIX—1. 
GENERAL ROY HOFFMAN. 


Roy Hoffman was born on a homestead claim in 
Neosho County, Kansas, June 13, 1869, and his early 
life was spent on farm and ranch. He was educated 
in the public schools and at the Kansas Normal School, 
at Fort Scott. His parents having located at the Sac 
and Fox Indian Agency, early in 1889, he settled at 
Guthrie shortly afterward. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1891. At the beginning of 1893, he established 
the “Guthrie Daily Leader,” of which he remained the 
editor and publisher for a year and a half. In the 
meantime, he had been appointed as private secretary 
to Governor William C. Renfrow. He also served as 
an assistant United States District Attorney. Dur- 
ing the Spanish-American War, he enlisted for service 
in the Oklahoma Battalion of the ist Territorial 
Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned as captain 
of Company K. Although this regiment saw no active 
service outside of the training camps, Captain Hoff- 
man, had a brief tour of detached service in Cuba. 

After the Oklahoma troops had been discharged 
from the volunteer service, in 1899, when the 1st 
Infantry, Oklahoma National Guard, was reorganized, 
Captain Hoffman was commissioned as lieutenant- 
colonel and, after the death of the colonel of the regi- 
ment, in 1900, he was promoted to fill the vacancy. 
As such, he remained the ranking officer of the Okla- 
homa National Guard, for seventeen years, being gen- 
erally in command when its forces were called out 
for training encampment or other service. He com- 
manded the regiment during its eight months of serv- 
ice on the Mexican Border, in 1916-17. 

After his discharge from the volunteer military serv- 
ice in 1889, he settled at Chandler, where he engaged 
in the practice of law, and also took an active part 
in civic and political affairs. 

When the ist Infantry, Oklahoma National Guard 
was ordered back to Fort Sill, late in March, 1917, 
less than a month after it had been released from 
the Federal service and a week before the declaration 
of war against Germany, Colonel Hoffman was said to 
be the senior National Guard infantry colonel in the 
whole United States; He was in command at Fort 
Sill for a time. He was promoted to the grade of 
brigadier-general in the National Army, his commis- 
sion bearing the date of August 5, 1917. He was 
assigned to the command of the 93d Division (Colored), 
the completion of the organization of which was made 
under his direction. He saw service in the Toul sector 
and the Battle of Castigny. He also participated in 
the defense of the Picardy sector and in the reduc- 
tion of the St. Mihiel salient, his division being at- 
tached to the French Army. General Hoffman was 
cited by General Henry d’Oissel, commanding the 8th 


918 


French Army Corps, for meritorious service in the 
defense of the Champagne Sector. He was awarded 
the decoration of commander of the Legion of Honor, 
and holds also those of several other orders. 

Since his discharge from the active military service, 
on February 5, 1919 General Hoffman has been con- 
nected with the Reserve Army, as a brigadier-general 
and is now the commander of the 95th Reserve Divi- 
sion. He has served three terms as president of the 
National Reserve Officers’ Association. He was one 
of the organizers of the American Legion, and has 
been active in the promotion of its interests. He 
served as State department commander of the Legion 
in Oklahoma and has had a prominent part in other 
veterans’ organizations, both of the Spanish-American 
and World wars. 

Politically, General Hoffman has been active as a 
Democrat and has held several official positions in the 
county, State and Federal official services. General 
Hoffman has long been recognized as one of the most 
gifted public speakers in Oklahoma. A brief, im- 
promptu address, delivered on the spur of a momentary 
inspiration, on the occasion of the dedication of the 
Captain Carter C. Hanner Memorial Hall by the Ameri- 
ean Legion, at Stillwater, hereunto appended, serves 
to illustrate his ability and power as an orator. 


Tribute To Captain Carter C. Hanner. 


Mingled feelings of pride and sorrow are tugging at 
my heartstrings, as I stand here. Pride of participa- 
tion in this historic ceremony; pride in the patriotism, 
energy, and splendid new home of this progressive 
Post; pride in the military display of your magni- 
ficent educational institution—in the swing, discipline 
and step of these fine, up-standing cadets pride in 
the very Spirit of our Country, always so quick and 
manifest in Stillwater; sorrow from the poignant 
memories awakened of my dear, departed friend. I 
knew Carter C. Hanner well. He was my comrade. 
How vividly the old days come back now. With 
Gilstrap, Key and Berry, in camp and in the field and 
on the march, I learned to intimately know and love 
him. 

How often among the duties of the day, or in the 
watches of the night, we have discussed military 
problems; or, released from routing, our minds have 
grouped together into the dim, rapt mysteries of life! 
And, clinging together, we have felt out in the dark 
for the touch of a guiding hand and talked of death 
and the hereafter. tha. c 

Captain Hanner is no more. He gave his life, in 
its spring time and its joy, that his country might 
live, secure in its blessings of peace and prosperity. 
Radiant with love and life he went to his death that 
bloody day in the Meuse-Argonne, as bonny, brave 
and blithe a lad as ever gave his life for Liberty. This 
Post and this community does well to honor him. As 
citizen and soldier he did honor you. His spirit flames 
immortal in the hearts of his countrymen, and his 
bright and shining Soul goes marching on. 

(Turn to his picture, hanging over the front of the 
Legion Home) 

Carter Hanner, loyal and chivalric comrade, I salute 
you! Dead on the field of honor—with courage above 
and beyond the call of duty. Your ashes mingle with 
the dust of this Republic, but to me you are a living 
presence still. There is, there was, there can be, no 
gentler spirit, no braver soldier, no better comrade, 
father, husband, citizen, friend—no kinder, sweeter, 
nobler, manlier man. 


APPENDIX XLIX—2,. 
THE OKLAHOMA-TEXAS CONSOLIDATION, 


When the ist Regiment of Infantry, Oklahoma Na- 
tional Guard, ceased to exist by reason of its consoli- 
dation with the 7th Texas Infantry, October 15, 1917, 
it had been in the Federal service fifteen of the pre- 
ceding sixteen months. During the whole of that time, 
both officers and men had been living under field con- 
ditions, under the authority, inspection, observation 
and training of officers of the Regular Army as mili- 
tary superiors. The training which the officers had 
received at least ‘equalled in amount and character 
that which was offered to candidates for commissions 
in the National Army at the officers’ training camps. 
Most of the officers of the Oklahoma Regiment had 
seen from three to fifteen years in its service and a 


APPENDIX 


Sipctake number of them had been promoted from the 
ranks. 

_ Oklahoma had accepted the National Defense Act 
in good faith. Some minor units had been filled out 
by the organization of a few new companies, with 
experienced service men as officers, but there was no 
disposition on the part of Oklahoma to organize any 
new National Guard regiments, with officers for the 
same to be selected chiefly through political influence, 
largely because they had elected to break into the 
Federal service after the manner of the old volunteer 
system rather than submit themselves to the hard 
work of a training camp course. When Oklahoma 
first was consolidated with the Texas 7th, the latter 
had been organized but afew weeks, consequently most 
of the Oklahoma officers outranked those of the Texas 
contingent. As each company of the consolidated regi- 
ment was to have four lieutenants, it absorbed all of 
the subaltern officers, but there were twice as many 
captains, majors and lieutenant-colonels as were 
needed. 

The promotion of Colonel Hoffman to the grade of 
brigadier-general, left but one colonel—Alfred W. 
Bloor, who was a capable and experienced officer and 
who had seen service in the volunteer army during 
the war with Spain—so it was but natural and proper 
that he was retained as commander of the consolidated 
regiment, with Lieutenant-Colonel Elta H. Jayne, also 
an accomplished officer of long service and experience, 
as second in command. Beyond that, however, long 
service and experience did not count, since two of the 
other three Oklahoma field officers—Major Ellis Ste- 
phenson and Major William Green—were detached 
for assignment to duty elsewhere, Major Stephenson 
as commander of the 1381st Machine Gun Battalion 
and Major Green to the Field Artillery. So, despite 
longer service, Seniority and extended field training, 
Oklahoma was only allowed two out of the five field 
officers. Moreover, the discrimination thus started was 
continued throughout the subsequent service of the 
regiment. 

Some months later, Major John T. Alley, was trans- 
ferred from the 142d Regiment to the command of 
the divisional military police, and Captain Harry B. 
Gilstrap was promoted to fill the vacancy thus created 
—the last promotion of importance among the Okla- 
homa officers of the regiment, until just before the 
cessation of hostilities. That political influence could 
be used in other ways, as well as in securing regi- 
mental commissions, was evidenced by the fact that, 
shortly after reaching the port of embarkation, two 
majors of the 142d (who were not from Oklahoma) 
sought and secured higher commissions with staff 
assignments, which precluded the necessity of their 
personal participation in combat action. Immediately 
after the regiment had debarked in France, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Jayne was relieved from duty with the 
142d Infantry and assigned to detached service else- 
where, so that, for a time, there were but two field 
officers with the regiment. Then a captain (who was 
not from Oklahoma) coveted the rank and station 
of the only major on active duty with the regiment 
and he, too, was detached and assigned to duty with 
the military police. 

Thus far, political methods seemed to have been 
fairly successful in military affairs. Unfortunately 
for the continued success of such a system, however, 
the War Department and the General Staff of the 
Army not only had officers whose promotion was 
regarded as fitting and desirable, but also were pos- 
sessed of a power that not even a political pull from 
a great state could overcome. Consequently, vacan- 
cies in the field were filled by transfers and assign- 
ments for other units. But the petty undermining of 
line officers was continued so that, of all of the Okla- 
homa company commanders and field officers who 
were assigned to duty with regiment after its consoli- 
dation and reorganization, only one—Captain Charles 
Johnson, of Pawnee, who was promoted to major 
only a week before the Armistice—survived the haz- 
ard of battle casualty and the vicissitudes of politico- 
military intrigue to return with the regiment. 

It is gratifying to know that, as the Oklahoma Na- 
tional Guard is now organized, a repetition of the 
unpleasant incidents of the mergence and submergence 
of the old Oklahoma ist Regiment, in 1917 and 1918, 
could not happen again, were a similar occasion to 
present itself. 


Oe ee ee eee 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX XLIX—3. 
A SUBMARINE ATTACK. 


“Without warning the submarine appeared in the 
center of the fleet, which was guarded at the time 
by a flotilla of destroyers, the ‘Charleston’ having 
turned back to the United States a short time previous. 
The appearance of the undersea craft was the signal 
for every available piece of naval artillery to open 
fire. It was stated that more ammunition was used 
by the naval gun crews in this voyage than by all 
the other ships of the navy during the war up to that 
time. The guns, however, had not been able to get 
into action before the submarine had launched a tor- 
pedo which barely missed the stern of the ‘Maui,’ 
the transport bearing the 1st Battalion of the 142d 
Infantry, probably the closest call experienced by any 
of the troops. 

“Hardly had the periscope of the enemy craft been 
sighted than one of the destroyers was bearing down 
upon it, and although the submarine submerged be- 
fore the destroyer reached the spot, it was not in 
time to escape. A depth bomb which made the sides 
of the transports in the vicinity groan from the 
shock of the explosion, ended the career of the Ger- 
man boat. As soon as the bomb had exploded the 
destroyer wheeled in her course and sped back to 
the spot to drop a second depth charge. 
to this second explosion the surface of the sea in 
that vicinity was covered with oil and debris from 
the destroyer’s prey. 

“This engagement was watched with the same keen 
zest known to the football field. Every available 
vantage spot aboard the transports was crowded with 
troops who cheered and cheered again as the gun 
crews fired their pieces and the destroyers darted 
here and there to drop their bombs. When the oil 
and debris appeared on the surface of the water the 
cheering was that attending a touchdown. It is 
thought that the convoy was attacked by the same 
submarine which sank the ‘San Juan’ off Fire Island 
the morning of July 29, although there was no way 
of verifying this. In the engagements with the U- 
boats no damage was inflicted to the transports and 
the entire convoy arrived safely in Brest Harbor, the 
morning of August 12, being the last of the Division 
to reach France. 

“In spite of the excitement that prevailed in the 
battle with the submarines the infantrymen aboard 
the ‘Maui’ learned to display strategy that was worthy 
of the best. For many days it had been difficult to 
get enough to eat, due to the overcrowded condition 
of the boat. The ship’s galley was not capable of 
feeding so many men. When the greater part of 
the personnel rushed on deck, the hungry doughboys 
found their way below and obtained a supply of pro- 
visions from the unguarded galley that left the larder 
practically exhausted. Another incident that later 
caused general amusement was brought about when 
all transports put on full steam to get away from 
the vicinity of the submarine as soon as possible. 
The convoy was a slow one, taking fourteen days 
to cross, and the troops blamed the speed on the rear- 
most ship, an Italian steamer, which common rumor 
declared to be the slow boat and the one which the 
rest of the ships had to wait for. When the sub- 
marines appeared, this ship developed speed that 
astonished those who were watching. She sped 
through the balance of the convoy and was lost to 
sight within a short time. Later it developed that 
the Italian boat was laden with explosives to such 
an extent that had she been hit by a torpedo it would 
have been disastrous to any other ships in her vicin- 
tty. 

APPENDIX XLIX—4. 


MAJOR HARRY B. GILSTRAP’S LETTER TO MRS. 
WILLIS L. PEARCE. 


The following letter was received by the widow of 
Captain Willis L. Pearce, of the 142d Regiment (old 
Oklahoma First National Guard), in reply to a letter 
of inquiry which she had written to Major Harry B. 
Gilstrap, formerly of the same regiment, concerning 
the death of her husband. The letter was printed 
in the press shortly after its receipt. Captain Pearce’s 
home was at Healdton, while Major Gilstrap’s home 
was at Chandler: 


In answer. 


gig 


“Your letter of November 16 and a letter from Cap- 
tain Pearce’s sister, Julia, dated November 21, both 
reached me today by the same mail. It grieves me 
to have to confirm the news of the death of your 
husband. I would shave written you before but in 
some way had an impression that you were not in 
Ardmore, and so I did not know how to reach you. 
I was not with the 142d when it went into action, 
having been transferred a month before to the mili- 
tary police. 

“T was on the battlefield where my old regiment 
suffered so many casualties, on the 11th, the day on 
which the Brigade was relieved, and it was then that 
I first heard of the death of Captain Pearce. I could 
not remain longer at the time and did not then see 
his body, though I did see the body of Lieutenant 
Harrison and First Sergeant Audry of the company. 
At the first opportunity I returned (our Division had 
in the meantime pursued the Boche some 30 kilometers 
to the River Aisne). This was on Sunday, October 
13, and a burial party from the 142d was at work. 
Several of the officers from our regiment were then 
being buried, and I saw the body of Captain Pearce 
and that of Captain Hanner, of Stillwater: Lieutenant 
Matheny, of Chandler; Lieutenant Lowry, of Kings- 
fisher, and Lieutenant Harrison, of Wewoka, had al- 
ready been buried. One of the officers of the 142d, 
Lieutenant Clark Owsley, who was in charge of the 
party. I was told that a Y. M. C. A. man had taken 
the valuables and keepsakes from Captain Pearce’s 
body soon after he fell. I did not get any definite 
information as to the circumstances of his death, 
because I left the division a few days later and have 
not since then seen anyone from whom I could get 
the information. 

“My impression is, however, that Captain Pearce 
was killed as were most of our officers and men, by 
machine gun fire, and that his death was immediate. 
The report that he ‘died from wounds’ is misleading, 
for that is the expression commonly used when a 
soldier is taken to a dressing station or a hospital 
and dies after leaving the field. To my personal 
knowledge, Captain Pearce was buried within a few 
yards of where he fell 

“The service of aid to our wounded during the en- 
gagement was splendid, and I am sure that if the 
eaptain had been merely wounded he would have been 
taken back to a dressing station and then to a 
hospital. I heard of but one officer who lived even 
a little while, and that was Captain Hanner, who 
they said, was taken to a dugout after he was wound- 
ed and, in a little while, before aid could be rendered 
he was dead. I shall certainly try to get more in- 
formation for you, though it may be some time be- 
fore I can do this. I thought the captain fell on the 
first day of the fight—October 8—but I may have 
been mistaken in this. The records of deaths and 
burials were being made up by the regimental chap- 
lain, Lieutenant C. H. Barnes (Hennessey, Oklahoma), 
when I left the division. The chaplain himself had 
returned from a hospital after the battle and was 
being guided by the best information then available. 
Of course the fact of a death was verified fully before 
being sent out, but the date might be questioned, for 
the fight lasted three days. I know quite well the 
spot where these dear friends of mine, including your 
husband, were laid to rest. It was near the town of 
St. Etienne, a small town of the Champagne sector. 

“Tt will not appear on the maps of small scale, but 
if you draw a line from Chalons to Mezieres, a point 
on this line directly east of Rheims will give you 
practically the location of St. Etienne. There are 
probably more than fifty brave Oklahomans buried 
on this little hill where they captured the last line of 
the German defenses. Highteen from my old company 
(Company B) are buried there. I could not feel more 
completely at a loss for words, Mrs. Pearce, than I 
do in my wish to say some small word of comfort to 
you out of the great tragedy of this war. 

“Before I left the regiment I was for two weeks in 
the same town with Captain Pearce as his battalion 
commander, and this intimate daily association helped 
me to Know him better, which was to esteem him 
more highly. His conscientious performance of duty, 
his cheerful acceptance of hardship and his considera- 
tion of others endeared him to us all. When we were 
moved from the training area we were halted for ten 
days south of the Marne, west of Chalons. While here, 
I did not see the Captain. The 142d and 141st left the 


920 


night of October 4 by truck for the front, going to 
Somme Suippes. On Sunday, the 6th, they began to 
march, to their position, going through Souian and 
Somme Py. Sunday night the guide of the 142d got 
lost, so the Regiment did not reach its position until 
8 o’clock on Monday morning. Tuesday morning at 
5 a. m. they ‘went over the top,’ the second battalion, 
including F company, being the assault battalion. The 
orders, it seems, were somewhat vague, and the odds 
were frightfully against them, but they fought with 
such gallantry as would not be expected in troops new 
on the line and won the admiration of the marines, 
whom they were relieving, and of the French corps 
commander, who praised them in official orders. Most 
of our casualties occurred that first day. The total 
number of officers killed in the 142d was ten, but three 
times that many were wounded. 

“The total casualties in the division as reported 
when I left, were 2,300 of whom 500 were killed. 

“Your husband fell near the top of the hill which 
was held by Boche machine gun nests. He made the 
supreme sacrifice to the cause of world freedom. But 
first he led his men successfully against the last 
Boche stronghold on this line and : 

“eS 6. died with the glory of faith in his eyes 
and the glory of love in his heart.’ 

“Yours is the greatest sacrifice, and my heart goes 
out to you in a feeling of deepest sympathy. I was 
in Paris on the night when the people were celebrat- 
ing the signing of the Armistice. Somehow I could 
not enter into the feeling of gayety that abounded 
there for I could not get away from the thought of 
the price of victory. It has been brought very close 
to me, but infinitely more to you. Feel assured of 
this—that your gift to this cause was of the best. 
Your husband was not only a volunteer, but he had 
by years of work prepared himself to be of real value 
in the final test. The star in your service flag is fitly 
represented by the gold that typifies your husband’s 
fidelity to home and country. Your gift was not in 
vain, and the State and Nation may well honor the 
memory of such brave soldiers as Captain Pearce. 

“Tt was a great disappointment to me that I could 
not go into this fight with my old outfit, but it was 
undoubtedly what makes it possible for me to be 
writing you today. My boy did go with his company 
and, after behaving quite creditably, was gassed, from 
the effects of which he is still in the hospital, though 
not in a serious condition. I hope, when I get back, 
to see you and, in the meantime, if I can get addi- 
tional details concerning the things you are eager to 
know, I shall write you.” 


APPENDIX XLIX—5. 


GENERAL HUGH 8S. JOHNSON. 


Hugh §. Johnson was born at Fort Scott, Kansas, 
August 5, 1882. His parents were among the early 
settlers of the Cherokee Outlet, locating at Alva, 
Oklahoma, in 1893. He was educated in the public 
schools at Alva, at the Northwestern State Normal 
School (of which he is a graduate) and in the U. S. 
Military Academy, whence he graduated in 1903. He 
was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st’ Cavalry. 
For several years he was stationed at Berkeley, Cali- 
fornia, as military instructor in the University of 
California. While there, he received the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, in 1915, and Doctor of Jurisprudence 
in 1916. He had previously served in the Philippines, 
from 1907 to 1909; an executive officer of Yosemite 
National Park, 1910-12. Subsequently he served as 
judge advocate under General Pershing, in the Punitive 
Expedition into Mexico, in 1916; assistant to the law 
officer of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, from October, 
1916 to April, 1917; deputy provost marshal general, 
1917. He reached the grade of first lieutenant in 1911, 
that of captain, July 1, 1916; major and judge advocate, 
August 5, 1917; lieutenant colonel and judge advocate, 
1917; colonel in the National Army, January 15, 1918, 
and as brigadier general, April 15, 1918. He was com- 
mander of the 15th Brigade, 8th Division, Camp Fre- 
mont, California, October 1 to 18, 1918; commander of 
the 8th Division, October, 1918, to January 1, 1919, 
Camp Lee, Virginia. He resigned from the military 
service, February 25, 1919. 

General Johnson originated the plan for the selec- 
tive draft; after the same was approved by Judge 
Advocate General Enoch Crowder, the latter brought 


APPENDIX 


the matter to the attention of Congress, where a bill 
was introduced for the purpose of making it effective. 
When the necessary legislation had been enacted, the 
General planned to have the necessary papers and 
blanks printed, he was surprised to find that Major 
Johnson had assumed the responsibility of having 
the type set, the forms made up and the presses 
already in operation, even before such a course had 
been authorized by an act of Congress. Such ability 
on the part of a subordinate officer to cut the “Gor- 
dian knot’ and assume personal responsibility for 
prompt action in an emergency, without waiting to 
unroll bolts of official red tape, virtually had the 
effect of putting the force of America’s man-power 
behind the Allied cause three months sooner than it 
would have been possible, otherwise. 

When he reached the grade of colonel in the course 
of his rather rapid promotion, his assignment took 
him to the General Staff, where he served as chief 
of Purchase and Supply Bureau, and member of the 
War Industries Board. He also conceived the organi- 
zation of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic Division of 
the General Staff, in effect from August, 1918, to the 
close of the war. Notwithstanding his remarkable and 
successful achievements in sta lines, however, he 
longed for a chance to do his part in combat action. 
With the 8th Division, of which he was the com- 
mander, he had already embarked for the over-seas’ 
voyage when the news of the Armistice was received. 

General Johnson received the Mexican Campaign 
and World War medals, and was awarded the Dis- 
tinguished Service Medal ‘‘for work on the selective 
draft.” In addition to his brilliant attainments in a 
military way, General Johnson has gained distinction 
because of his literary ability and productions. He 
is the author of ‘Williams of West Point,” 1907; “Wil- 
liams on Service,” 1909; several military publications, 
and many stories and essays in magazines. 

General Johnson resigned from the military service 
February 25, 1919, when he accepted the position of 
vice-president, general counsel, and assistant general 
manager of the Moline Plow Company. He also organ- 
ized (in 1925) the Moline Implement Company, in 
which he holds a position on the Board of Directors. 
His home is at Moline, Illinois. 

General Johnson’s father was the late Hon. Samuel 
L. Johnson who was long prominent in the public life 
of Oklahoma. He was the first postmaster of Alva 
and was one of its most usefully constructive pioneers. 
Later, he settled at Okmulgee, where he served as one 
of the early mayors, in the first state election, in 
1907, he was chosen as state senator from the Okmul- 
gee district and was successively re-elected at the 
end of each term, until his death, more than a dozen 
years later. , 


APPENDIX L—1. 
GENERAL CHARLES F. BARRETT. 


Charles F. Barrett was born at Galion, Ohio, Jan- 
uary 1, 1861. His parents were pioneer settlers in 
Kansas and he was reared on a farm and educated 
in the public school of that State, and at the Kan- 
sas Agricultural College, where he received his first 
military training. He also learned the printer’s trade. 
He settled in Oklahoma in 1893, and was engaged in 
the newspaper business, editing the “Press Gazette” 
in Oklahoma City. He was admitted to the Oklahoma 
Bar in 1894, and began practice at Shawnee. He was 
commissioned a captain of the Oklahoma National 
Guard in 1898. At the outbreak of the war with 
Spain, having been denied a commission in the Volun- 
teers, he resigned his National Guard commission and 
enlisted as a private, but was shortly made first 
sergeant of his company. Upon being discharged 
from the volunteer military service he returned to 
Shawnee where he again entered the National Guard 
as a second lieutenant. In 1901 he established the 
“Shawnee Herald,” which he published until 1906. He 
was a clerk of the Constitutional Convention in 1906- 
7 and secretary of the Oklahoma State Board of Agri- 
culture 1908-10. He was elected a member of the 
Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1910 and 
of the State Senate in 1912. He had been com- 
missioned major December 12, 1907, assigned to the 
command of the 2d Battalion of the Ist Oklahoma 
Infantry; he was relieved from command of that bat- 
talion December 31, 1913 and assigned to the Judge 
Advocate General’s Department. He was relieved from 


APPENDIX 


the Judge Advocate General’s Department and assigned 
to the command of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Infan- 
try, June 19, 1916, and was inducted into the Fed- 
eral service, July 4, following. He was discharged 
for physical disability, October 25, 1916. He re- 
entered the Oklahoma National Guard service, May 
13, 1918, being senior major and was assigned to duty 
as mustering officer of the Oklahoma National Guard: 
assigned to duty as judge advocate on the State staff, 
July 16, 1918; was assigned to command of the ist 
Battalion, 2d Infantry, November 15, 1918 and trans- 
ferred to the State Administrative Staff, January, 
1919. On February 1, 1919, he was made acting ad- 
jutant general; he was promoted to colonel and act- 
ing adjutant general, April 14, 1919; promoted to ad- 
jutant general with rank of brigadier-general, July 
7, 1919; appointed colonel of the 179th Infantry, Okla- 
homa National Guard, February 14, 1923, and retired 
by reason of age, January 1, 1925; re-appointed ad- 
jutant general with rank of brigadier-general, July 
1, 1925, which position he still holds. In addition to 
his career in the public service, General Barrett has 
had a constructive though unostentatious part in the 
civic, political and professional affairs of Oklahoma 
—as a newspaper writer he wielded a facile, trench- 
ant pen, always with the courage of his convictions 
and a reason for his faith in the cause which he 
espoused. <A staunch advocate of single statehood, 


he visited Washington several times in active sup-- 


port of that movement; a man of keen perception, 
eareful reflection and safe conclusion, his advice and 
counsel has been much sought and generally accepted 
in matters of public import. 


APPENDIX L—2. 
THE TULSA RACE RIOT. 


It is difficult to account for such sudden outbreaks 
as the Tulsa race riot, Muskogee narrowly escaped 
a similar outbreak a few years before, when a white 
mob attempted to break into the county jail in order 
to wreak its vengeance upon the negro murderers 
of a peace officer, while a negro mob with high- 
powered rifles and automatic pistols lay in hiding 
near by, waiting to open fire on the white mob in case 
it undertook to make an actual physical attack upon 
the sheriff and his deputies. So too, less than four 
months after the riot at Tulsa, Oklahoma City nar- 
rowly escaped a similar race riot after a young negro 
boy had been spirited away from the unguarded coun- 
ty jail, and lynched in the outskirts of the city. The 
vengefulness of the negro people was deliberately in- 
flamed to a point where a single shot might easily 
have led to a duplication of what had happened at 
Tulsa. Only the cool nerve, courage, and resource- 
fulness of a very few public officials forestalled what 
might have been a very serious affair. The people 
of Oklahoma City as a whole, slept peacefully that 
‘night, wholly unaware of the imminent danger. The 
story did not even appear in the newspapers then nor 
afterwards. 

Age-long racial antipathies are elemental and, when 
these are disturbed by any tragio or incendiary act, 
it seems to be easy for certain types of civilized man 
to revert to savagery. At such times abstract justice, 
patience and forbearance seem to disappear. The 
simultaneous occupancy of any region, in any part 
of the world, by two unlike and unassimilable races 
has always led to friction and trouble and violence 
throughout the past, and the student of human rela- 
tionships can find but little to warrant hope for the 
elimination of such scenes of strife in the future. 
Seemingly neither violence nor a well-meaning but 
misguided sentimentalism can lead to a solution of 
this great problem. 

This outbreak of mob spirit in Tulsa was the more 
remarkable for the reason that, only a few months 
before under the initiative of Governor Robertson, 
there had been an honest and conscientious effort for 
the systematic organization of an inter-racial con- 
ciliation movement, the purpose of which was to pre- 
vent just such exhibitions of unreasoning hate and 
unbridled lawlessness. Failure of such a praiseworthy 
endeavor only serves to emphasize the importance and 
necessity of some wisely directed effort under public 
auspices to find some solution for the problem that 
will settle it for all time to come. 

Nearly two-thirds of a century has passed since 


Q21 


the negro people of the United States were freed from 
the bonds of slavery. During that time, there have 
been comparatively few sporadic instances on the part 
of individual students and voluntary associations to 
study the facts and principles which underlie this 
great problem. But there has been no nation-wide 
effort yet initiated for the purpose of finding a ration- 
al solution for the same. In the meantime, the prob- 
lem has become complicated far beyond what it was 
in the beginning. It remains today, the greatest prob- 
lem that confronts American statesmanship. 


APPENDIX L—s. 
OKLAHOMA STATE FLAG, 


(a.) The committee of the daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution which was appointed to select a de- 
sign for the new flag and submit the same to the 
Legislature, consisted of one member from each sub- 
ordinate chapter of the society in the State, Mrs. 
oO. J. Fleming, of the Enid Chapter, being chairman 
of the committee. 

(b.) The story of the designing of the State flag 
is substantially as follows: 

Among those who were especially invited to sub- 
mit designs for the new emblem, for a consideration 
by the committee, was Mrs. George Fluke, Jr., a young 
woman who had been reared in Shawnee, but who 
had been a resident of Oklahoma City since her mar- 
riage. It was suggested that she visit the Historical 
Society and consult the writer (J. B. T.) in regard 
to a design. He began to describe one or two of the 
devices which had already been tentatively discussed 
with Mrs. Hickam, but she informed him ‘that she 
would have to submit one worked on new and original 
lines, and that she had come to him for suggestions. 

He led the way over to a framed silk flag which 
was hanging on the wall of the museum of the His- 
torical Society. This flag had been carried as the 
regimental standard of a Choctaw regiment in the 
Confederate military service during the Civil War. It 
consisted of a blue field in the center of which was 
a white circle containing the tribal device or emblem 
of the Choctaw Nation, to-wit, a bow, two arrows and 
a tomahawk all crossing centers in red. Then he 
asked, “why not use a dark blue like this as the 
field in this design for a new flag?” He then remarked 
that, ‘‘when the white man formulates an emblematic 
design for a seal or coat-of-arms, he very frequently 
chooses a shield,” the two conventional forms of which 
were briefly described, following by the further state- 
ment that, “since this is the red man’s state, it would 
seem to be appropriate to use the red man’s shield, 
which was quite generally, if not invariably, circular 
in outline.” With this, he led the way to another 
part of the room where, also hanging on the museum 
wall, he pcinted out an Osage Indian warrior’s shield, 
fashioned from the thick, tough hide of an old buffalo 
bull and fringed with the pendant feathers of the 
war eagle. Then followed the suggestion that, crossed 
upon this shield there might be placed the peace im- 
plements of the two races, namely, the Indian calumet, 
or peace pipe, and the white man’s olive branch. 

Instantly grasping the significance of such a sug- 
gested design, Mrs. Fluke proceeded to make sketches 
of the shield and of the typical calumet pipe. A few 
days later when her finished design was submitted in 
competition with ten or a dozen others, hers was the 
unanimous choice of the members of the committee 
present. In due time it was submitted in the form 
of a joint resolution, to the State Legislature, by 
which it was almost unanimously adopted, and thus 
became the official emblem of Oklahoma, 


APPENDIX LI—1. 
A YOUNG LAWYER AS A SUCCESSFUL LOBBYIST. 


One of the youngest, if not the youngest member of 
the bar to be admitted to practice before the newly 
created and organized United States Court of the 
Indian Territory, in April, 1889, was Walter A. Ledbet- 
ter, of Gainesville, Texas. Though still retaining an 
office at Gainesville, he cpened one at Muskogee and 
spent most of his time there, during the ensuing six 
months. When the members of the Congressional 
Committee on Territories were at Muskogee, in Sep- 
tember, 1889, he was present when Representative John 
Allen, of Mississippi, made his remark concerning the 


holding of terms of court at Ardmore. Several days 
later, some cf the members of the bar took the visiting 
Congressman out on a hunting excursion near Mus- 
kogee. A number of prairie chickens, wild turkeys 
and other game birds and animals including two tim- 
ber wolves, fell before the unerring aim of some of 
the visiting statesmen. (The experiences of this hunt 
subsequently furnished the theme for a humorous 
speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, 
by “Private” John Allen.) While out on this hunting 
trip, young Ledbetter had a confidential talk with 
Representative Allen, in the course of which he con- 
fided to the latter the possibility of settling in the 
Indian Territory to practice law. He also recalled 
to Mr. Allen’s mind what the latter had said about the 
wisdom of establishing terms of court, whereupon, 
the latter suggested and urged Ledbetter to pay a 
visit to Ardmore and talk the matter up among the 
people of that new town. This he did, several weeks 
later, withcut thought a3 to the effect of such action 
upon the subsequent course of his life and career. 

Some weeks later, Ledbetter was surprised to receive 
a lengthy letter from a citizen of Ardmore, informing 
him that the people of that place had subscribed and 
paid in the sum of $1,000 which had been placed to his 
credit in the local bank and that they wished him to 
proceed to Washington, at once, for the purpose of 
seeking to induce Congress to so amend the law by 
which the United States court of the Indian Territory 
had been created, in such way as to provide for the 
holding of terms of that court at Ardmore. This, Led- 
better did. Though a number of months elapsed be- 
fore the bill introduced for such a purpose was passed 
and approved, young Ledbetter had the satisfaction of 
knowing that he had laid the foundation for the suc- 
cess of the proposition. The people of Ardmore mani- 
fested such keen appreciation for his service that he 
was induced to move his home from Gainesville and 
his law office from Muskogee to Ardmore, at which 
place he made his home for nearly twenty years. The 
success of his efforts at Washington, in behalf of 
Ardmore, had been such as to immediately give him a 
leading place, not only in the practice of his profes- 
sion, but also in the civic affairs of that community. 

Walter A. Ledbetter was born in Fayette County, 
Texas, March 9, 1868. He was educated in the public 
schools and the State Normal School. Beginning the 
study of law in his youth, he was admitted to the bar 
on the day that he attained his majority. He began 
practice at Gainesville immediately thereafter. He 
was engaged in the practice of his profession at 
Muskogee in 1889-90, and settled in Ardmore in the 
last mentioned year. Along with the practice of his 
profession, he always took an active interest in public 
affairs. He was among the earliest advocates of state- 
hood; indeed, he was so enthusiastic on this proposition 
as to be the subject of a special memorial of the Chick- 
asaw National Counsel, addressed to the Secretary of 
the Interior and praying that he be expelled from the 
Chickasaw country. 

In recognition of his long service in this and other 
matters of public import, he was elected as a delegate 
to the Constitutional Convention in 1906. In the or- 
ganization and deliberations of the convention which 
framed the organic law for the new state, Mr. Led- 
better took an active and influential part. He was 
commonly regarded as one of the leading members of 
the Constitutional Convention. Since 1909, he has re- 
sided in Oklahoma City, where he has continued in 
the active practice of the law and where he is justly 
regarded as one of the leading members of the bar of 
Oklahoma. 


APPENDIX LITTI—1. 
WILL T. LITTLE. 


William Thomas Little was born at Newark, Ohio, 
June 14, 1862. Four years later his parents migrated 
to Kansas, settling at Olathe, and, in 1873, they moved 
to Abilene, where William T. Little graduated from 
the high school in 1882. He then entered the Univer- 
sity of Kansas. In 1885 he had an attack of the pio- 
neering fever and settled in Western Kansas, at Leoti, 
Wichita County, where he helped to build the town, 
organize the county and pilot it through a county- 
seat war. Subsequently he attended the law school 


APPENDIX 


of the Columbian College at Washington, District 
of Columbia, but left on account of ill health without 
graduating. He was admitted to the bar, but never 
practiced. He came to Guthrie on the opening day, 
April 22, 1889, where he published the Guthrie ‘Get- 
up,” a small paper printed on a job press and the first 
to be actually printed in the Oklahoma country after 
it was opened to settlement. He secured a homestead 
claim in Noble County in the race at the opening of 
the Cherokee Strip. In 1894 he was elected as the 
representative of Noble County in the Territorial 
Legislative Assembly. He was custodian of the His- 
torical Society from 1895 to 1899, when he resigned 
to enter the service of the Dawes Commission as a 
land appraiser in the dominions of the Five Civilized 
Tribes. In 1901 he was placed in charge of the ap- 
praisement of the school lands in the newly opened 
Comanche-Kiowa and Wichita-Caddo reservations. A 
few months later he was appointed postmaster at 
Perry, which position he held until he relinquished it 
on account of failing health shortly before his death, 
which occurred July 5, 1908. He will be remembered 
as the pioneer arboriculturist of Oklahoma, for he was 
an enthusiast as a tree planter, the public square and 
parks of his home town attesting not only his love of 
trees, but also his skill in inducing them to grow 
when others were skeptical of the success of the ex- 
periment. 


APPENDIX LITI—2. 
WILLIAM P. CAMPBELL. 


William Parker Campbell was born at St. Joseph, 
Missouri, December 17, 1843. He was the second son 
of Elisha and Nancy (Dillon) Campbell. In the pa- 
ternal line he was of Scottish extraction, though the 
family had long been resident in America. His great- 
grandfather, John Campbell, was a Virginian who 
rendered conspicuous service in the American army 
during the Revolutionary War. His mother’s people 
were from the South. Her father was a pioneer 
Methodist circuit rider, in the South and in Illinois 
for more than sixty years and was a contemporary 
of Peter Cartwright. 

During the youth of William P. Campbell, his par- 
ents moved back to Illinois and Indiana. Several years 
later they returned to Missouri, where they continued 
to live until the outbreak of the Civil War. They then 
moved again, settling at Nemaha, Nebraska. Living 
on the extreme frontier of that period, it was not 
strange that the wild life of the great plains should 
have beckoned to young Campbell. In company with 
a cousin of his own age, he entered the overland 
freighting service as a “bull-whacker” with a wagon 
train. He soon tired of the roughness and brutality 
of such a life, however, and he was glad to return 
to the more quiet pursuits of a journeyman printer, 
he having served an apprenticeship at that trade. 
At this time he was in the employment of Colonel 
R. W. Furnas, a publisher at Brownsville, Nebraska, 
who was afterward Governor of the State. 

His father’s family having returned to Illinois, he 
followed thither, where he embarked in the newspaper 
business on his own account, as publisher of the 
“Home Banner,’ at Augusta. Shortly after the close 
of the war, he moved to Iowa, where he was engaged 
in the newspaper business successively at Tama City, 
Vinton, Brooklyn and Newton for brief periods. In 
1869 he moved to Kansas, settling in Washington 
County. For a time he was a pioneer homesteader 
and then a town-site projector. Soon, the old longing 
for the smell of printer’s ink became too strong to 
be resisted, and he was back in the newspaper busi- 
ness, as editor and publisher of the “Waterville Tele- 
graph.” Thence, in 1877, he moved to Wanego, Kansas, 
where he established the “Tribune,” which he pub- 
lished for many years. While living there he took an 
active part in politics and served two terms as regis- 
ter of deeds of Pottawatomie County. Incidentally, 
he had some experience as a railroad promotor, wrote 
several books and an occasional poem or play on the 
side. He served as a division chief of the Federal 
Census Bureau for a year during the compilation of 
the results of the eleventh census of the United 
States, living at Washington during that time. 

Mr. Campbell came to Oklahoma in 1892 and, at the 
beginning of the following year, he assumed the 
duties of deputy register of deeds of Kingfisher 


APPENDIX 923 


County, his brother, J. B. Campbell, then a resident 
of Hennessey, being register. While publishing a 
newspaper in Kansas, in 1875, he had been interested, 
if not partially instrumental in helping to institute 
the Kansas State Historical Society. A few months 
after beginning his work in the courthouse at King- 
fisher, the Oklahoma Territorial Press Association 
convened in that town for its annual meeting. Of 
course, it was but natural for William P. Campbell 
to mingle in such a crowd. Indeed, there were sev- 
eral “formerly of Kansas” men in the newspaper fra- 
ternity in Oklahoma in those days. It was during one 
of the sessions of that meeting that Mr. Campbell 
obtained recognition to propose the organization of 
a historical society for Oklahoma. And so it was that 
the Oklahoma Press Association sponsored the insti- 
tution of the Oklahoma Historical Society, May 27, 
1893. Mr. Campbell was selected as the first secretary 
and custodian of the society. 

When Mr. Campbell was so unexpectedly discharged 
from the service of the society in June, 1895, he left 
Oklahoma. During the ensuing nine years he was 
engaged in newspaper work at Topeka, Atchison, St. 
Joseph, Kansas City, and elsewhere. The collections 
of the Oklahoma Historical Society remained at the 
University, at Norman, for six years and a half and, 
in the latter part of 1901, were moved to Oklahoma 
City. Something over two years later, it became ap- 
parent that the work of the society was making no 
headway. The custodianship went begging for the 
reason that it did not pay enough to justify any one 
devoting all of his or her attention to its affairs. At 
this juncture, William P. Campbell was called back 
to Oklahoma to take up the work—a work to which 
his life was so whole-heartedly devoted throughout 
its remaining twenty years. 

For more than a dozen years before his death, Mr. 
Campbell published a little quarterly periodical which 
he called ‘‘Historia.” As a historical society publica- 
tion, it was so utterly unlike any other, as to be in 
a class of its own. About the time of his death, 
“Historia” was replaced by a publication of more 
conventional form and makeup—the “Chronicles of 
Oklahoma.” The files of “Historia’ are treasured 
with other priceless items in the society’s library. 

Mr. Campbell’s education was only such as could be 
obtained in the district schools and country printing 
offices of sixty-five to seventy-five years before, so 
it is scarcely necessary to state that he was not 
technically trained for the work which he was called 
upon to do, in blazing the trail for the beginnings of 
the Oklahoma Historical Society. But not all the 
technical training in the world could make a pioneer 
and William P. Campbell was a pioneer in the fullest 
sense of the word. True, some of the work which he 
did in that line was crude but crudeness is distinctive 
cf pioneering. If Oklahoma had had to await a day 
of technical trained efficiency before inaugurating the 
effort to gather and save historical data, much of it 
which he gathered and saved might have been lost be- 
yond recovery. That the gathered grain may not be 
entirely free from chaff is no discredit to the hand 
that made it safe and secure—others may winnow but 
he was the harvester. 

Mr. Campbell was married, in 1867, to Miss Mollie 
E. Wayne, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Camp- 
bell died in 1918. Six children were born to this 
union, four of whom lived to the years of maturity. 
Mr. Campbell’s death occurred at the home of his son, 
Wayne Campbell, May 4, 1924. 

The world was not always kind to William P. Camp- 
bell. His faith in his fellowmen had been shaken, 
not once, but many times. Yet he was not embittered 
in consequence of this. At times he was disposed to 
be somewhat cynical because of inconsistencies which 
are all too prevalent, yet he never became selfish in 
turn. On the contrary, he persistently refused to judge 
all of humanity by the deeds of its baser individual 
specimens. He was not merely a friend to his fellow- 
men in the mass, but he always insistently tried to 
find something good in the “down and outer’ whom 
nearly everyone else held in contempt. It was impos- 
sible for him to turn a deaf ear to an appeal for help 
when it came from one in distress. Indeed, it has 
been truly said that he was better to everyone else 
than he was to himself. So he went to his reward, 
poor in purse but rich in the spirit of charity and 
helpfulness. 


APPENDIX LV—1. 
THE WEALTH OF THE OSAGE PEOPLE. 


The Great and Little Osage tribes (which have been 
merged for many years) formed the largest group of 
the Southern Siouan division. Originally they lived 
chiefly in Central Missouri, whence they ranged into 
adjacent portions of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. 
During the course of the first twenty-five years fol- 
lowing the purchase of Louisiana by the United 
States, they ceded all of their original holdings to 
the Government of the United States, the last cession 
including the remainder of their lands in Oklahoma, 
which they agreed to relinquish, in 1825. At the same 
time they accepted a new reservation in Southern 
Kansas, fifty miles wide and about two hundred and 
fifty miles long. About 1835 they were finally settled 
on this new reServation whence they ranged into 
neighboring portions of Kansas and Central and West- 
ern Oklahoma on their buffalo hunting excursions. 

Two years after the negotiation of the new treaties 
with the Five Civilized Tribes, whereby provisions 
were made for the settlement of tribes, then in Kan- 
sas, on new reservations in the Indian Territory, an 
agreement was made at the Drum Creek Council, in 
1868, under the terms of which the Osages were to sell 
their Kansas lands for twenty cents an acre, and have 
a@ new reservation purchased for them in the Indian 
Territory. At this juncture, two shrewd and resource- 
ful attorneys, who were leading members of the Cher- 
okee tribe, namely Clement N. Vann and William Penn 
Adair, paid the Osages a visit and informed some of 
their chiefs and head men, that “Washington was not 
paying the Osages enough” for their land. Needless to 
state, Vann and Adair were granted a hearing before 
the Osage tribal council. The long-headed, scheming 
abilities of Clement N. Vann would do credit to any 
modern politician, even including those in the national 
eye, while the plausible persuasiveness of William P. 
Adair gave him a winning way wherever he went. The 
result of the conference between these two attorneys 
and the Osage tribal council was the signing of a con- 
tract whereby Vann and Adair were to jointly receive 
twenty-five per cent of the difference between the 
sum promised to the Osage people for their Kansas 
lands in the Drum Creek agreement and the sum 
which they might receive in case these attorneys 
could defeat the approval of the agreement by either 
or both houses of Congress. ! 1 a 

The fact that the means resorted to in inducing 
the Osage Indians to enter into this agreement, and 
the further fact that a railroad company was to 
profit from it to the exclusion of many settlers, who 
were already thronging into the Osage country, caused 
something of a political upheaval in Kansas. As the 
result of this, the attorney general of that State, and 
its lone member of the Lower House, Sidney Clarke, 
also joined in the fight against the approval of the 
Osage agreement and helped to bring about its defeat. 
(Incidentally, the railroad company and some of the 
interested politicians never forgave Congressman 
sClarke for his part in the matter and, as a result, 
he was retired to private life at the next election). 

Having secured this contract, Vann and Adair imme- 
diately went to Washington, where, fortunately for 
their design, there had been a change in the National 
administration, the Andrew Johnson régime having 
been superseded by that of Ulysses S. Grant. At 
Washington, the two Cherokee lawyers interviewed 
not only senators and representatives but also many 
others who were known to be influential, including 
even President Grant, thus ably seconding the protest 
of Congressman Clarke. As a result of the activities 
of such combined forces, the approval of the Drum 
Creek agreement was defeated. 

Parenthetically, it should be stated that Vann and 
Adair had made their contract with the Osage council 
without the knowledge, consent or approval of the 
Government officials having general supervision of 
Indian affairs. Though there had been a change in the 
office of Secretary of the Interior and in that of com- 
missioner of Indian Affairs, these officials could not 
view with equanimity the officious part played in the 
Osage affairs by the two Cherokees, and finally allowed 
them $50,000 in full satisfaction of the more than two 
million dollars which they would have otherwise 
claimed. 

Out of the proceeds of this sale, the Osage tribe paid 


924 


for the big, new reservation, which extended west- 
ward from the 96th Meridian to the Arkansas River, 
in the lands of the Cherokee Outlet. A year or two 
after this acquisition, the Osages agreed that a small 
tract in the northwestern corner of this new reserva- 
tion should be ceded to their kinsmen of the Kaw 
tribe. As a result of these transactions, there was 
placed to the credit of the Osage tribe in the United 
States Treasury, a balance of nearly nine million dol- 
lars, where it became known as the Tribal Trust 
Fund. Between this generous trust fund and their 
big reservation, the Osages actually became known 
as the richest community per capita, on the face of 
the earth, years before there was suspected the ex- 
istence of oil and gas deposits beneath their rolling 
pasture lands. 

When the Osage people agreed to have their reser- 
vation sub-divided and allotted in fee simple owner- 
ship to the individual members of the tribe, it was 
also agreed that all mineral royalties should still be 
held in common. Consequently, all oil and gas bo- 
nuses and royalties were paid to the government 
tribal superintendent in one lump sum, as received. 
These royalties amounted to such sums that portions 
of the same were reserved and placed in trust, for 
the people of the tribe, in the United States Treasury. 
At one time the royalties were so large that only 
twenty-five per cent thereof was paid out in quar- 
terly installments to the people of the tribe. In con- 
sequence of this, the tribal trust fund has been in- 
creased to over one hundred million dollars. Such, 
in brief, is the story of how the Osage Indians, once 
one of the most poverty stricken tribes in the central 
part of the United States, saw their wealth increase 
until every member of the tribe was not only com- 
fortably independent, but rich, even as the world now 
measures riches. 


APPENDIX LVI—1. 
OKLAHOMA CITY’S BANK RUN. 


At the beginning of the financial stringency, known 
as the panic of 1893, there was a noticeable tendency 
on the part of depositors to withdraw their money 
from the banks, in Oklahoma City as elsewhere. 
There were three banks in the town, namely, the 
First National, the Bank of Oklahoma City, and the 
Citizens Bank, the last two holding charters under 
the Territorial banking laws. All three banks were 
conservatively managed and, under any ordinary con- 
dition, would have been accorded a solvent standing 
by official bank examiners. The deposits of these 
three pioneer banking institutions would have aggre- 
gated much less than $100,000.00 at the time. Despite 
conservative management and solvent conditions, 
however, the withdrawal of even a small part of the 
deposits was portentious and naturally occasioned 
some anxiety among the officers, directors and stock- 
holders of the three banks. 

The run started on the Bank of Oklahoma City. A 
gambler, who had taken offense at some action or 
attitude of the cashier, James H. Wheeler, became 
very vindictive and, in revenge for a fancied griev- 
ance, deliberately started and spread a report that 
the condition of the Bank of Oklahoma City was 
“shaky,” urging everyone who would listen to him to 
withdraw deposits. Regardless of the utter irrespon- 
sibility of the source of this rumor and the motive 
behind it, the effect was soon evident, for the rumor 
became current in the community and was quickly 
followed by a regular “run” by the bank’s panic- 
stricken depositors. Officers of the three banks met 
in conference and assurances were offered but the 
frightened depositors were not in a temper to listen 
to assurances, representation, reason or anything else 
just then—they wanted their money and that without 
delay. The Bank of Oklahoma City was not only in 
a solvent condition but actually had $10,000.00 on 
deposit with a correspondent bank in Kansas City, 
which would have accepted its securities and redis- 
counted its notes, had time and opportunity been af- 
forded. But it was “caught between bases,” as it were, 
and had no chance to prepare for such an emergency. 
Consequently, it was forced to suspend. The citizens 
Bank likewise closed its doors, as its officers realized 
the futility of trying to weather the storm of an 
artificially created panic. 

With the closing of the two territorial banks, a 


APPENDIX 


run was started on the First National Bank. One of 
the leading citizens of Oklahoma City, then as always 
regarded as a capitalist, was Henry Overholser. 
Moreover, there was no man in the community whose 
advice concerning business and finance was more 
eagerly sought or more highly valued. As one of 
the bondsmen of Territorial Treasurer Samuel Mur- 
phy, he had already secured the deposit of $5,000.00 
in gold by the Territorial treasury for use in case of 
an emergency, by the First National Bank. In order 
to do this Mr. Overholser had to personally indemnify 
the Territory against possible loss. His son, Ed Over- 
holser, a2 young man in his early twenties, had been 
the bookkeeper, assistant teller, messenger and gen- 
eral handy man at the Bank of Oklahoma City. 

After the two banks had suspended, and the run 
had started on the First National, $5,000.00 in gold 
had been set aside to protect the Territory. Then Ed 
Overholser remembered of having read a story of a 
bank run being stopped by a ruse in which iron 
washers from a hardware store had been used to fill 
coin sacks, that were ostentatiously carried into the 
bank under suspicion. Accordingly, the $5,000.00 of 
Territorial gold was slipped out of the bank by the 
Overholsers, father and son, who took it to a hard- 
ware store, where three empty coin sacks of the same 
size and capacity were filled with iron washers. Henry 
Overholser carried the sack of $5,000.00 in gold in one 
hand and a sack of washers in the other and, followed 
by his son who was carrying two sacks of washers, 
entered the bank, where they were stacked on the 
ecashier’s counter, the sack of gold being opened and 
its contents exposed in plain view of the depositors 
in front. These were greatly impressed and some- 
what reassured. Unfortunately, however, in order to 
prevent overcrowding, an officer had been stationed 
at the front door and only a certain number of peo- 
ple were permitted to enter the bank at a time. Those 
who were in line outside and who, consequently, 
could not see the gold coin and the unopened sacks, 
were not in the least impressed but remained obdu- 
rately clamorous for admission, so the ruse failed. 

The officers of the First National Bank had faced 
the storm with grim determination. In anticipation 
of such a crisis it had already wired the Kansas City 
correspondent bank to send $50,000.00 in currency, by 
a messenger, and J. M. Curtis was already on the way 
with the money. President T. M. Richardson went 
out in the street in front of the bank and addressed 
the depositors who were standing in line, assuring 
them that every depositor would be paid in full and 
counselling them to be patient. Curtis arrived with 
the money, on schedule time. Without letting this 
fact become public, the $50,000.00 was scattered out 
in modest sums among responsible citizens, who 
strolled unconcernedly into the bank at suitable in- 
tervals and deposited it while the panic-stricken de- 
positors looked on in amazement. This ruse had the 
desired effect. The waiting line of anxious depositors 
gradually disintegrated and the run of the First Na- 
tional was over. 

Among those to whom sums of money from the 
$50,000.00 consignment from Kansas City were en- 
trusted for deposit in the First National, was young 
Ed Overholser, late bookkeeper of the suspended Bank 
of Oklahoma City. A few moments later, realizing 
the incongruity of such a deposit by an employee of 
a bank that had just suspended, he slipped up to the 
Government Land Office and turned the money over 
to Major D. D. Leach, the district receiver of public 
moneys, who promptly went to the First National 
Bank and deposited the $4,000.00 of supposedly Gov- 
ernment funds. So hastily and so trustfully was all 
this done that records of part of the transactions 
were lacking. Several weeks later, the cashier of the 
First National confided to young Overholser the fact 
that the bank was $4,000.00 short in its accounts, and 
that it was utterly at a loss to find an explanation for 
the deficit. The latter suggested that Major Leach’s © 
account be examined. There, a personal credit of 
$4,000.00 was found, made on the eventful day that 
the bank run was ended. A call on Major Leach dis- 
closed the fact that the incident had almost been for- 
gotten. His check squared the bank’s balance. 

Henry Overholser was named receiver for the 
suspended Bank of Oklahoma City. After going over 
its papers, he went to Judge Frank Dale, by whom 
he had been appointed, and made a proposition to 
personally assume liability for all deposits remaining 


APPENDIX 


unpaid, if he were allowed to settle its affairs in his 
own way. Briefly, he proposed to pay the small de- 
positors, who needed their money, at once and in full, 
while to the heavier depositors, who did not need the 
money immediately, he would issue certificates of de- 
posit, pending the collection of outstanding loans and 
other resources of the suspended bank. Judge Dale 
was loath to consider such a proposition. He reminded 
Overholser that it was a very risky undertaking and 
that though he was to settle the affairs of a Territo- 
rial bank, his appointment as receiver was from the 
Federal district judge. But Overholser insisted and, 
finally, Judge Dale reluctantly consented. Thus auth- 
orized, Overholser proceeded to pay off the claims of 
the small depositors, immediately, in full. He then 
issued certificates of deposit to the depositors who 
had larger accounts. Taking the businessmen into his 
confidence, he then explained the situation with the 
result that most of them promptly agreed to accept 
negotiable certificates of deposit at par, in lieu of 
cash on merchandise sold. At the same time every 
effort was made to realize on the bank’s assets, notes 
and other securities. The result was that, within six 
months, every depositor of the suspended bank had 
been paid in full, with six per cent. interest on the 
certificates of deposit which represented deferred pay- 
ments. The bank was then turned back to the stock- 
holders for reorganization. 

Incidentally, it is worthy of remark that Henry 
Overholser’s ‘‘certificate of deposit’ expedient, which 
was used so successfully in 18938, was the forerunner 
of the “scrip” to which almost universal resort was 
made by the banks of the whole country, during the 
panic of 1907. 


APPENDIX LVI—2. 
AGITATION FOR TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 


When the novelty of the first few weeks of pioneer- 
ing had worn off, the people began to realize that many 
of the discomforts and inconveniences which they were 
experiencing were likely to continue until the estab- 
lishment of a territorial or state government. This 
realization resulted in an agitation for some concerted 
action for the organization of a territorial government 
without waiting for Congressional sanction of such a 
course. In the latter part of May, a call was issued 
for a convention to meet at Guthrie, on July 17, for the 
purpose of planning the organization of a territorial 
government. Sentiment was largely divided along local 
lines, Guthrie and the contiguous section strongly sup- 
porting the movement, while Oklahoma City, King- 
fisher and several other leading towns, in the main, 
were strongly opposed to it. In order to counteract the 
effect of such a movement, another convention was 
called to meet at the town of Frisco, in Canadian 
County. Resolutions of protest against the proposed 
organization of the Territory, without the authority 
conferred by an act of Congress were adopted by the 
convention at Frisco. The Guthrie convention met at 
the appointed time and, after three days of wrangling, 
adjourned to meet on August 20, ninety-six delegates 
having been present. 

When the territorial convention reconvened, four 
weeks after the first meeting, there were a hundred 
delegates present. A majority of the delegates were 
known to favor the proposed organization of a terri- 
torial government, but a large minority insisted that 
the convention should frame a memorial to Congress, 
setting forth the needs of the Territory, and then ad- 
journ. One committee was appointed to frame an or- 
ganic act, another was chosen to draw up a memorial 
to Congress, and a third committee was selected to 
divide the Territory into counties. The work of these 
committees was approved by vote of the convention, 
though there was a determined fight made against the 
adoption of the proposed organic act. In the end, the 
delegates who opposed the scheme succeeded in influ- 
encing the committee in charge of defining the limits 
of voting precincts, apportioning the delegates and 


15. The town of Frisco was situated in the valley of the 
North Canadian River, about two miles northwest of the 
present town of Yukon, in Canadian County. It was aban- 
doned after the building of the Choctaw Railroad led to the 
founding of the last mentioned town, practically all of its 
buildings being moved to the new town on the railroad. 


925 


calling the election, not to take any action. Conse- 
quently, when the convention adjourned, its only im- 
portant work was the memorial addressed to Congress, 
which was adopted and signed by the delegates.%* This 
memorial, which was a dignified statement of the needs 
and conditions of the Territory, had the effect of “pour- 
ing oil on the troubled waters,” as it were, and laying 
the spirit of local jealousy and rivalry, for the time 
pene at least. The memorial to Congress was as 
ollows: 


“To the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 
United States in Congress Assembled: 


“We, the people living in that part of the Indian Territory 
opened to settlement under the act of Congress approved 
March 2d, 1889, in convention assembled at the city of 
Guthrie, in said Territory, respectfully show that: 

“The land so opened comprised less than two million acres 
and was settled on the first day it was opened for settlement, 
to wit, April 22d, 1889; that immediately upon that day 
there sprang into existence in said land agricultural com- 
munities, villages, towns, and cities—one of those towns 
containing not less than 8,000 people and another not less 
than 3,000, and the total population of the land being not 
less than 30,000. The population since that time has in- 
creased and now numbers not less than 50,000 people. Every 
quarter section of land fit for agricultural purposes, has 


. been settled upon and the towns have been steadily growing. 


Since April 22d, 1889, the settlers have constructed nearly 
enough houses for residences and buildings for the business 
which belong to towns of their size. 

“The towns now located and growing in said land number 
twenty-seven. 

“The population of this land is chiefly and to an unusual 
degree composed of law-abiding people, who have come here 
to make permanent homes for themselves and build up a 
desirable community life. 

“Owing to the press of other business upon Congress at 
the time the bill for the opening of this land was passed, 
there was no provision for territorial government made by 
Congress, or for any other government, nor for any law, 
save as the country might be governed by the United States 
Courts, including the then recently established court at 
Muskogee, under the laws enforceable by them, it being 
doubtless intended by Congress that fuller legislation and 
more complete laws should be provided at its next meeting. 

“As now settled, this Territory has all the social and busi- 
ness conditions which would be in an equal area of territory 
in one of the old settled States, and has need of as complete 
protection to its social and commercial conditions. At pres- 
ent, however, there is no provision in this Territory by which 
the property of a decedent may be taken charge of, his debts 
paid, and the funds remaining distributed to the persons 
properly entitled thereto; nor is there any rule of descent 
determining to whom the property should be distributed. 

“There is no provision for the solemnizing of marriage, 
nor for the care or adoption of orphan children, nor the pro- 
tection of wards, nor the administration of their estates. 

“There is no provision for the making or authentication of 
wills nor the probating thereof. 

“There is no provision for the care of the unfortunate or 
afflicted, the destitute, the aged, blind, sick, or the insane. 

“There is no provision for burial grounds, nor is there any 
place where the dead may be lawfully interred. 

There is no provision for the construction of mainten- 
ance of public roads or bridges; nor for the establishment 
or maintenance of public schools; nor for the apprehending 
of animals running at large or breaking into the fields of the 
settlers; nor for assignments by insolvents, or the applica- 
tion of their property to the payment of their debts; nor for 
the incorporation or regulation of banks or savings banks, 
or a rate of interest upon money. 

“There is no provision for conveyance of lands, or mort- 
gages of lands or goods, nor for the recording of convey- 
ances or mortgages. 


16. It is a significant fact that, though this memorial was 
signed by 100 men who were then numbered among the 
leading citizens of the new territory, not to exceed ten of 
them could be recognized as leading citizens of Oklahoma 
ten years later. A few had died during the course of the 
decade, of course, but the great majority of the rest had 
proven to be transient sojourners, who stayed for a time 
and then drifted on, no one knows where, thus illustrating 
forcibly the lack of permanency on the part of many of the 
first settlers, and especially of the class that might be de- 
nominated as political adventurers. 


926 


“There is no provision for trusts or powers, nor for the 
enforcement thereof ; nor punishment for breach of trusts. 

“There is no provision for corporations for purposes of 
trade or business, nor for municipal corporations. 

" “There is no provision for labor, material or mechanics’ 
iens. 

“There is no provision for taxation for any purpose. 

“There is no provision for the protection of the public 
health, nor for the prevention or suppression of contagious 
diseases. 

“In criminal matters the laws at present in force in the 
Territory relate only to crimes against the United States 
and the primitive forms of violence, such as murder and 
stock stealing. 

“There is no provision of law as to child stealing, at- 
tempted rape, poisoning, abortion, libel or blackmail, reck- 
less burning of woods or prairies, burglarious entry of 
houses, trespass, embezzlement, rioting, carrying deadly 
weapons, disturbing public meetings, seduction, public inde- 
cency, profanity, gambling, lotteries, drunkenness, bribery, 
destroying legal process, official negligence or malfeasance, 
creating or maintaining a public nuisance, selling unwhole- 
some, diseased, or adulterated provisions or drink, introduc- 
ing diseased or infected stock into the Territory, swindling, 
false weights or measures, obtaining money or property un- 
der false pretenses, making or using counterfeit labels; nor 
for many other offices. 

“By the exceptional and intelligent employment of United 
States troops and United States marshals, and by the force 
of an exceptionally cool and intelligent and honest public 
opinion, there has been a degree of public order so far pre- 
served in this country that is extremely creditable to the 
authorities and to the people. But it cannot be hoped that 
such unusual conditions shall permanently continue, and 
those provisions for the preservation of good order and the 
protection of person and property and the regulation of 
conduct which obtain in other established communities 
should be established here. 

“By the provisions of the act of March 2d, 1889, the only 
modes by which the title to town-sites could be conveyed to 
the actual occupants of the town-sites, were under sections 
2387 and 2388 of the Revised Statutes, by the corporate 
authorities of incorporated towns, or by the judge of any 
county court in case the town is not incorporated. At pres- 
ent there is no law under which towns can be incorporated 
or have corporate authorities ; nor can there be a judge of a 
county court, and therefore there is no mode by which town- 
sites can be legally entered, or any title to town lots ob- 
tained by the inhabitants of the towns. 

“This is a serious detriment to the towns of this Territory, 
and prevents the building up of many substantial improve- 
ments and enterprises in our towns, there being a natural 
indisposition on the part of the settlers to the expending of 
large sums of money on either residences, business houses, 
or business plants located upon lots to which they have no 
title as yet nor any provision of law which under existing 
conditions can assure them of a title hereafter. 

_ “Until such legislation is had we cannot have fully effec- 
tive city organization for the furtherance of the good and 
the repression of the evils constantly occurring in the city 
and town life. 

“Until such legislation is had it will be almost impossible 
to have effective rules or laws as to public roads, or to pre- 
vent the fencing up of roads through the country—an evil 
which has been increasing since the time of our settlement, 
until now some of the principal roads are fenced and utterly 
abandoned, and whole neighborhoods are debarred from 
any convenient way to any town or railroad. 

“While this large growth has taken place and this settle- 
ment has been made in the two millions of acres opened, it 
is well known that the Government is now negotiating for 
and expects soon to open in the Indian Territory lands sur- 
rounding Oklahoma, amounting to not less than twenty 
million acres additional. If this large tract is opened and 
settled with approximately like density and rapidity, there 
will be as soon as opened a population in the Territory of 
from three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand new 
settlers. These, in addition to the people now in the whole 
Indian Territory, will make a total population in the Terri- 
ry of from five hundred to seven hundred thousand 
people. 

“Part of these lands can now be opened for settlement 
without further negotiations if Congress so desires, and it 
seems probable that all of the twenty million acres will be 
open within two years. It is also probable that large bodies 
of these lands will be opened before this Congress adjourns, 


APPENDIX 


and that they will be settled at once, or within a few days 
after they are opened. That those lands should be opened 
without a territorial government being provided for them 
would be to invite calamity, and the necessity of providing a 
government for them needs no discussion. 

“The government given as herein prayed for would be a 
nucleus and an aid to put in operation the government 
needed in the lands that will be opened. 

“Tt would facilitate their orderly settlement and influence 
the best class of immigrants to choose the land. 

“We therefore most earnestly pray that the Congress will, 
as its first duty upon its assembling, pass an organic act in- 
stituting this Territory, and giving to these American cit- 
izens a full and sufficient territorial government. 

“(Signed) F. L. GREENE, 

“President of Convention, 
“M. A. DUFF, 

“Secretary of Convention, 

“And Ninety-eight others.” 


The Organic Act. 


When the Fifty-first Congress convened at Washing- 
ton, in December, 1889, the memorial of the Oklahoma 
convention was presented, and three different bills for 
the creation of a territorial government for Oklahoma 
were introduced—Senate Bill No. 895, by Senator Or- 
ville H. Platt, of Connecticut, and House Bills Nos. 6 
and 17, respectively, by Representatives William M. 
Springer, of Illinois, and Charles S. Baker, of New 
York. After extended debate and with the addition of 
several amendments, the Senate passed Senator Platt’s 
Oklahoma bill, February 13, 1890.7 Just one month 
later (March 13) the House debated the bill at length, 
amended it still further and then passed it.% The 
Senate voted to nonconcur in the House amendments 
and a conference was arranged. The Senate finally 
voted to agree to the conference report, April 21.% An 
error in the enrollment of the bill caused a request for 
its return by the President. The bill received the ap- 
proval of President Harrison, May 2, 1890—over a year 
after the authorized settlement of the Territory. 

In its main provisions, the organic act for the Terri- 
tory of Oklahoma conformed very closely to the vari- 
ous acts of Congress under the terms of which all other 
territories of the United States had been organized. 
In brief, :t defined the limits of the Territory of Okla- 
homa as including all of that part of the former Indian 
Territory except the tribal reservations, proper, of the 
Five Civilized Tribes and the reservations included in 
the Quapaw Agency; also the Public Land Strip (com- 
monly called No Man’s-Land) and also to include Greer 
County (which was in dispute between the United 
States and the State of Texas) only in case the title 
thereto should be adjudged to be vested in the United 
States. 

The form of government prescribed for the new ter- 
ritory was republican in that it was to consist of three 
departments, namely (1) executive, (2) legis!ative and 
(3) judicial The chief executive of the Territory was 
to be a governor, appointed by the President of the 
United States for the term of four years. The Legis- 
lative Assembly was to consist of two houses, desig- 
nated respectively as the Council, consisting of thirteen 
members, and the House of Representatives, consisting 
of twenty-six members. 

The judicial department was to be vested in a Su- 
preme Court, district and probate courts and justices 
of the peace; the Supreme Court was to consist of a 
chief justice and two associate justices, each of the 
three justices to be assigned to duty as a district 
judge as well as serving as a member of the Appellate 
Supreme Court. 

There were to be seven counties, to be designated 
by number, the names of the seven counties to be 
chosen by vote of the people. The county seats of the 
several counties designated by the Organic Act were, 
respectively: One, Guthrie; two, Oklahoma City; three, 
Norman; four, El Reno; five, Kingfisher; six, Still- 
water; seven, Beaver. The Governor of the Territory 


17. The text of the Organic Act may be found in the 
forepart of any of the editions of the Compiled Laws of 
Oklahoma. 

18. Congressional Record, Fifty-first Congress, First 
Session, pp. 1271-79. 

19. Ibid., pp. 2213-20. 


: 
| 


APPENDIX 


was authorized to apportion the members of the two 
houses of the Legislative Assembly among the several 
counties, to issue a call for an election and to appoint 
a date and place for the convening of the same. The 
Governor was also empowered to apvoint such county 
and township officers as might be necessary. 

A large part of the general statutes of the State of 
Nebraska were adopted for the use of the Territory 
of Oklahoma until such time as the same might be 
modified or amended by the Territorial Legislative As- 
sembly. Guthrie was designated as the seat of the 
territorial government until such time as the Legis- 
lative Assembly and the Governor of the Territory 
might see fit to establish it elsewhere. 

Sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six of each 
township were reserved for the endowment of the pub- 
lic schools of Oklahoma. The lands of the Public Land 
Strip (No-Man’s-Land) were declared to be open to 
homestead entry and that tract was constituted a land 
district and the President of the United States was 
empowered to locate a land office therefor and also 
one other additional land office in the Territory. 

Provision was made for the reservation of public 
roads on all section lines. The attorney-general of the 
United States was authorized and directed to file a 
suit in equity before the United States Supreme Court 
against the State of Texas, setting forth the claim of 
PAE hari States to the ownership of the Greer County 
ands. 

Appropriations were made for the purpose of carry- 
ing the objects of the act into force and effect, such as 
Salaries and expenses of the territorial officers, the 
Legislative Assembly and courts; and the sum of 
$50,000 was appropriated for the temporary support of 
the public schools. 

The last fifteen sections of the Organic Act related 
to the United States Court in the Indian Territory. 
It was provided that the court should be divided into 
three divisions, the first division to include the reser- 
vations attached to the Quapaw Agency, the Cherokee 
Nation and the Creek Nation, the court to be held at 
Muskogee; the second division to include the Choctaw 
Nation, the court to be held at South McAlester,” and 
the third division to include the Chickasaw and Sem- 
inole nations, the court to be held at Ardmore. The 
appointment of not to exceed three United States Com- 
missioners in each judicial division was also author- 
ized. The functions of these commissioners were not 
unlike those of justices of the peace, their jurisdic- 
tion being similar; they were to be ex-officio notaries 
public and to have authority to perform the marriage 
ceremony. 

With the passage and approval of the Organic Act, 
the history of the eastern and western parts of the 
State of Oklahoma becomes more or less separate and 
distinct, though always with much in common, and 
thus continues throughout the following period, which 
ended with the passage and approval of the Enabling 
Act, in 1906. 


Organization of the Territorial Government 


Immediately after the approval of the Organic Act, 
President Harrison selected and appointed the first 
officers of the new Territory. George W. Steele, of 
Indiana, was named as the Governor. Judge Robert 
Martin, of El Reno, was appointed as secretary of the 
Territory, while Horace Speed, of Guthrie, was chosen 
as United States District Attorney and Warren S. 
Lurty,~ of Virginia, was selected as United States 
Marshal. The members of the Supreme Court of the 
Territory were: Edward B. Green of Illinois, chief 
justice; Abraham J. Seay of Missouri, and John G. 
Clark of Wisconsin, associate justices. Inasmuch as 
but two out of these seven appointments were be- 
stowed upon citizens of the new Territory, there was 


20. When the Choctaw Coal & Railway Company built its 
line to a junction with that of the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas Railway, it crossed the latter two miles south of the 
original town of McAlester. The new town of South Mc- 
Alester then grew up at the intersection and, in the course 
of time, it grew and expanded until the two towns were 
united under the name of McAlester. 

21. Marshal Lurty resigned his office within a few weeks 
and was succeeded by William Grimes, of Kingfisher, 
whose appointment was made in August, 1890. 


927 


much disappointment among the people of the Terri- 
tory in general and, of course, very great dissatisfac- 
tion among its aspiring politicians, especially as the 
party platform on which President Harrison had been 
nominated had contained a strong declaration in favor 
of the selection of territorial officers of the several ter- 
ritories from the citizens thereof. It is worthy of com- 
ment, in this connection, that four out of the five who 
had been thus appointed from outside of Oklahoma, 
immediately left the Territory when their official con- 
nection with it was terminated. 

Governor Steele arrived at Guthrie, May 23, 1890. 
He was greeted with an ovation and, the next day, a 
public reception was tendered to him and to the other 
newly appointed Territorial officials who had arrived. 
There was much in the way of duties to be performed 
by the new Governor. First among these was the or- 
ganization of counties and the selection and appoint- 
ment of county officers. It was also necessary to ap- 
portion the number of members of the two houses of 
the Territorial Legislative Assembly among the sev- 
eral counties and to make the necessary preliminary 
arrangements for the election of the same. 

The regular decennial Federal census, which was 
taken in June, 1890, disclosed the fact that the popula- 
tion of Oklahoma Territory (exclusive of Indians living 
on reservations) was 60,417, of which 3,300 were ne- 
groes. Most of the negroes had settled in Kingfisher 
County. Just at that time, however, there was in oper- 
ation an organized effort to colonize portions of the 
new Territory, especially in Logan County, the effort 
being inspired partly by partisan political zeal and 
partly by speculation in the interest of the promoters 
of the townsite for a projected negro town, which was 
to be located in that county some miles northeast of 
Guthrie and to be called Langston. 

On July 8, 1890, Governvr Steele issued a proclama- 
tion calling for the election of members of the Terri- 
torial Legislative Assembly, to be held four weeks from 
that day (August 5) and the Assembly was to be con- 
vened and organized two weeks later (August 19). 
Three political parties placed candidates in the field 
for this election—Republican, Democratic and Farmers’ 
Alliance. In the election the Farmers’ Alliance party 
secured four members of the House of Representatives 
and one member of the Council; the Democratic party 
elected eight representatives and five councilmen, 
while the Republican party succeeded in electing four- 
teen members of the House and six members of the 
Council. There was also one member of the Upper 
House who was classed as an Independent. 

Three days after the election (August 8) Representa- 
tive-elect Burke, of Edmond, died and, on the follow- 
ing day, Representative-elect Milton W. Reynolds 
(also of Edmond),™ who had been elected at large 
from the whole Territory, died. The two vacancies 
thus created necessitated the calling of a new election 
and led to the postponement of the date for the con- 
vening of the Legislative Assembly until August 27, the 


22. George Washington Steele was born in Fayette 
County, Indiana, December 13, 1839. Most of his early life 
was spent in Marion, Indiana, where he attended the pub- 
lic schools. He attended the Ohio Wesleyan University, at 
Delaware, Ohio, and, at the age of twenty, began the study 
of law in his father’s office. He was admitted to the bar 
just at the beginning of the Civil War. He entered the 
voluntary military service as a private, in April, 1861, and 
served continuously until the end of the war, being mus- 
tered out of the army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
In 1866, he received a commission in the regular army, in 
the service of which he remained for ten years. Returning 
to civil life, he engaged successively in farming, pork pack- 
ing and banking. He represented his district in Congress 
from 1881 to 1889. In 1895, he reéntered Congress, where 
he served three more terms. In recent years he has been 
Governor of the National Soldiers’ Home, in Indiana. 

23. Milton W. Reynolds was born in Chemung County, 
New York, May 238, 1833. Most of his earlier life was 
spent in Michigan, whither his parents moved when he was 
but three years old. He was educated at the University of 
Michigan. In 1857 he moved farther west, settling at 
Omaha, Nebraska. He farmed, edited a newspaper and 
took an active part in politics, serving two terms in the 
Nebraska Legislative Assembly. He frequently had occa- 
sion to do special correspondence for eastern newspapers 


928 


special election being scheduled for the 25th. Although 
the Republicans had a working majority in the House 
of Representatives and barely less than half of the 
membership of the Council, there was no apparent effort 
on the part of the party organization to avail itself of 
any partisan advantage in consequence. On the contrary 
the issues involved in the organization of both houses 
of the Legislative Assembly were wholly local and, 
consequently, party lines were seemingly forgotten, for 
time being, at least. As a result of this condition, 
and of the protracted “milling” and caucussing, two 
days were consumed in the organization of each house, 
so it was not until August 29 that the Legislative As- 
sembly completed its organization and was ready for 
the transaction of business. As the legislators belong- 
ing to the Farmers’ Alliance party seemed to hold the 
balance of power between the contending factions, it 
was not strange that both the speaker of the House 
(Arthur N. Daniels, of Canadian County) and the presi- 
dent of the Council (George W. Gardenhire, of Payne 
County) were chosen from the weakest of the three 
political parties. 

The real question at issue, which had thus obscured 
and subordinated party differences, was that of the 
location of the Territorial capital and of the other pub- 
lic institutions and, in its essence, it was essentially 
one of rivalry between the two largest towns in the 
Territory, namely, Guthrie and Oklahoma City. For- 
tune seemed to have favored Guthrie from the begin- 
ning. It was named as the seat of one of the two Gov- 
ernment land offices, which gave it a measure of 
prestige, if not one of positive advantage, right from 
the day of the opening cf the Oklahoma country to 
settlement. Then, in the Organic Act, it had been 
named as the temporary seat of the Territorial govern- 
ment. Moreover, though both towns were on the same 
railway line, it was evident that, as between the two, 
Guthrie had the advantage of the moral and political 
influence and support of the railway company (Santa 
Fe), which was reputed to be a power in such matters. 
Indeed, it is not impossible that railway influence may 
have been potent, at Washington, in effecting the 
choice of Guthrie as the location of one of the two 
Government land offices and, later, also in the deter- 
mination of the temporary seat of the Territorial gov- 
ernment. Even nature seemed to have done more for 
Guthrie than for its rival, its location being more 
sightly and having better elevation as compared with 
its immediate environment and therefore affording 
better natural drainage. On the other hand, Oklahoma 
City had some advantages, in spite of the handicap 
which it felt on account of the advantages which had 
been shown to its rival. It was surrounded by one of 


and it was on such a mission that he had occasion to visit 
the peace council at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in September, 
1865, and also the peace councils with the wild tribes 
which were held on the Medicine Lodge River in the au- 
tumn of 1867. His interest in the Oklahoma country thus 
dated from a comparatively early period. In 1865 he moved 
from Nebraska to Kansas, settling at Lawrence and, six 
years later, at Parsons, at both of which places he was en- 
gaged in the newspaper business. He represented Labette 
County in the Kansas Legislature and also served one term 
as a regent of the University of Kansas. His interest in 
the Indian Territory was always active; as early as 1872, 
in a magazine article entitled “The Indian State,’”’ he out- 
lined the future development of what is now the State of 
Oklahoma with remarkably prophetic vision. He was said 
to have written more on the Oklahoma question prior to its 
final opening to homestead settlement than any other 
writer, especially in his work as a member of the staff of 
the Kansas City Times, much of his writing appearing 
over the nom-de-plume of ‘Kicking Bird.” (He assumed 
that pen name out of compliment to his friend, the Kiowa 
chieftain of that name, with whom he became acquainted 
during the council at Medicine Lodge). He came to Guth- 
rie, April 22, 1889, where he aided in the publication of the 
Daily State Herald for a few weeks. In July following, he 
established the Edmond Sun and, a few weeks later, he 
selected a homestead near Edmond. He took an active part 
in the affairs of the new territory, was elected a repre- 
sentative August 5, 1890, and died a few days later. He 
was buried at Edmond, Oklahoma. 


» 


APPENDIX 


the most promising agricultural districts in the Terri- 
tory and it was much nearer to the geographic center 
of the old Indian Territory (which many people be- 
lieved would some day be made into a State by reunit- 
ing the two territories) than Guthrie was. At any 
rate, it was known that the people of Oklahoma City 
were not satisfied to have all of the favors shown to 
Guthrie and the people of the last mentioned town 
realized intuitively that, sooner or later, it would have 
to strive to hold the advantages which had already 
been bestowed upon it. 

Realizing that the people of Oklahoma City would 
be almost certain to make an effort to have the Terri- 
torial capital located at that place, the people of Guth- 
rie planned a combination for the control of the Legis- 
lative Assembly, for the purpose of preventing such 
action. In this combination, Logan and Kingfisher 
counties were to take the lead in a plan whereby it 
was to be provided that the capital was to remain at 
Guthrie, the penitentiary was to be located at King- 
fisher and other Territorial institutions were to be 
scattered among other counties, but none was to be lo- 
cated in Oklahoma or Payne counties. While this com- 
bination did not have sufficient votes to enable it to 
win, it was hoped to persuade the Payne County dele- 
gation to go to its support, without offering a state in- 
stitution in return. When this was attempted, the 
members of the Payne County delegation demanded 
that the Agricultural College should be located in that 
county. When this demand was refused, the delega- 
tion from Payne County went to the Oklahoma City 
people and a new combination was formed, thus giving 
Oklahoma City interests full control in the organiza- 
tion of both houses of the Legislative Assembly and 
placing men of the minority party in positions of com- 


manding influence as presiding officers of each, re- © 


spectively. 

The message of Governor Steele was not an ex- 
tended one. He briefly reviewed the conditions exist- 
ing in the seat Rend, S55 those with which its people 
were confronted. e emphasized the necessity for 
legislation for the organization of a public school sys- 
tem for the Territory. In this connection, he took occa- 
sion to “recommend that provision be made for four 
schools in each township, where practicable, . . . and 
that the settlers should provide their own school 


houses on sections 8, 11, 26 and 29, centrally located.” 


(To this suggestion, many of the people took decided 
exceptions, for the reason that a schoolhouse, 
“centrally located,’ would be in the center of a section ~ 
and, therefore, half a mile from the public roads.) 


The message also called attention to the fact that the ¥ 


thus 


chapters contained in the laws of Nebraska which had ~ 


been specifically enumerated in the Organic Act as © 
being adopted for the Territory of Oklahoma (until 
such time as the same should be changed or modified 
by the Territorial Legislative Assembly) did not in-— 
clude any highway law. The longest paragraph in the 
message was devoted to the subject of taxation. 
Recommendation was made that appropriations be pro- 
vided for the erection of necessary public buildings 
other than a capitol. 


the seat of the Territorial government, it was sug- — 


gested that no action be taken until other matters “of 
a great deal more importance are provided for.” 


In the matter of the location of © 


The * 


enactment of a herd law and provision for adequate ~ 


live stock quarantine regulations were urged. In the 


matter of controlling the liquor traffic, 


he recom- — 


mended the adoption of the Nebraska liquor law 


(which provided for a measure of local option), adding 
a gratuitous expression of personal opinion to the ef- 


fect that it would “give us better protection from the © 


evils of intemperance than that enjoyed by states at- — 
tempting 2 prohibition law.’ Other recommendations 

included the location and establishment of an agri- 
cultural experiment station; provision for an exhibit 

from the Territory at the Columbian Exposition at Chi- 
cago in 1893; the enactment of a law for the organiza- — 
tion of the militia; provisions for an election law, for © 
the reorganization of the county governments, for the 
necessary Territorial officers, for fixing the legal rate 
of interest and for regulating fees and salaries.* 


24. Journal of the First Session of the Legislative ASs- 
sembly of Oklahoma Territory, pp. 15-20. 


Ser. 2 


INDEX 


Okla—59 


INDEX 


Abel, Annie Heloise, references, passim 

Acceptance pledge, 821 

Act of 1830 passed, 128 

“Act of Union” of Eastern and Western Cherokees, 257 

Adair, Col. William P., Confederate leader, 359; extract 
from the speech of, 878 

Adams, Andy, author of “Reed Anthony, Cowman,” 412 

Address embodying advice and warning, 906 

Administration; and the “Boomers,” 520; of Governor 
Cruce, 650 

Admire, Captain Jacob L., U. S. Land Office receiver, 763 

Adobe Walls fight, 438 

Adoption of the Constitution, rejoicing at, 638 


Agency physicians, provision for appointment and support, 


of, 7II 

Agents for the various tribes at opening of Civil War, 307 

Agitation for Territorial Government, 925 

Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater, 730 

Agriculture, 751 

Allen, Major-General Henry T., 679 

Allen, Rev. Alanson, missionary, 210 

Allied Nations at close of Civil War, capitulation of, 365 

Alligator, chief of Seminoles, 175 

Allison, Dr. Vernon C.—‘Antiquity of Deposits in Jacob’s 
Cavern,” 14 

Altitude and area of the State, 3 

Alvord, Capt. Henry E., agricultural commissioner to 
Indian agencies, 417 

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
organized, 189 

eras commercial interests in Oklahoma, earliest, 
ca 

ee tean” El Reno, 768 

American Indian Mission Association, 211 

Ames, Rev. Dr. Edward R. S., Methodist Mission Board 
secretary, 205 

Amnesty decree, 820 

Amnesty granted the Cherokees after the Civil War, ee 

Annuity payment gathering among the Indians, 248 

Anti-monopoly law, 652 

Anti-slavery agitation in Indian Territory, 299 

Appendix, 783 et seq. 

Aquohee resolution, 819 

Arbuckle, letter of General, 822 

Arbuckle, Matthew, 62 

Arguments for development of railroads, 478 

eS ny River landings in Indian Territory, distances 
to, sO 

Arkansas; traders and trappers on the, 42-45; 
of, organized, 117 

Armstrong Academy, establishment of, 214 

Armstrong, Captain William, 791 

Armstrong, Francis W., 166, 791 

Armstrong, Gen. Frank C., of Dawes Commission, 610, 621 

Asbury Manual Labor School, 208 

Asp, Henry E., elected delegate to Constitutional Con- 
vention, 632 

Asphalt deposits, 757 

Athapascan tribes, 22 


territory 


Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, 480; at the close of 1871, 881 
Atoka agreement and the Curtis Act, 613 


Bacone College at Muskogee, 736 

Baker, W. R., supt. of Armstrong Academy, 214 

Bancroft, Hubert Howe—‘“History of Arizona and New 
Mexico,” 33 

Banking laws in the Territory, 745 

Banks first opened for business, 744 

Baptist Church, 775 

Baptist Mission, report of for 1848, 806 

Baptist Missions, under the Indian Territory, 208 

Barde, Frederick S., special correspondent, 771 

Barnes, Cassius M., inaugurated Governor, 578 

Barnitz, Capt. Albert, 430 

Barrett, Charles F., editor, 764, 920 

Battey, Thomas Chester, author of “A Quaker among the 
Indians,” 457 

Baxter Springs, Indian expeditionary forces at, 334 

Baylor, Dr. John W., U. S. A., 122 

Baylor, John R., letter of, 824 

Beadle, J. H., author of “Undeveloped West,” 461; de- 
scription of Indian Territory conditions, 873 

Beale’s road survey, 282 

Bean salt works, 98 

Beckmeyer, Otto, newspaperman, 765 

Bell, John R., explorer, 94; the captain’s expedition down 
the Arkansas, 97 

Bell, Lieut. James M., 428 

Bellamy, George, State Lieutenant-Governor, 644 

Bemo, John Douglas, the story of, 811 

Bench and bar of Oklahoma, 717-725 

Benedict, John D., superintendent of Indian schools, 644; 
supervisor of tribes common schools, 732 

Benson, Henry C., missionary, 206; author of 
Among the Choctaws,” 299 

Billups, Senator R. A., of Washita County, 645 

Bison, its habitat, 491 

Bixby, Tams, of Dawes Commission, 621, 913 

Black Beaver and the William Penn treaty, 862 

Black Bob band of the Shawnees, 401 

Black Kettle, 864 

Blakeney, R. Q., publisher, 764 

“Blanket Indians” of the Plains region, 374 

Bloomfield Academy, 208 

Bloor, Col. Alfred W., 665 

Board of Agriculture in wrangle, 653 

Board of Indian Commissioners at first appointed, 416 

Boating season on the Arkansas, 80 

Boats on upper Red River, 83 

Bolton, William E., publisher, 764 

Bonilla Humana Expedition, 33 

Bonneville, Benjamin L. E., 62 

“Boomers”; military preventives against, 
istration and the, 520 

Boone, Albert Gallatin, Indian agent, 453-454 

Boone, Captain Nathan, expedition, 277 

Boot, John Fletcher, missionary, 204 

Boudinot, Elias, 144 


“Life 


514; admin- 


932 


Boudinot, Elias Cornelius, pioneer in Indian Territory 
gpeer aan, 509; his letter, 887; his recommendation, 
90 

Boudinot and the Ridges; in 1830, assassination of, 253; 
biographic sketches of, 819 

Bougie, Charles, French-Canadian trader, 85 

Boundaries of the State, 3 

Bowles, John, Western Cherokee chief, 263 

Bradford, William, 61 

Branding cattle, 501 

Brandt, J. H., trumpeter of Troop L, 545 

Breaking up of the five Indian governments, 624 

Brearly, Col. David, tribal agent, 122 

Breckenridge, Clifton R., of Dawes Commission, 621 

Brigades formed from Indian regiments in the Confeder- 
ate service, 359 

Brininstool, Earl A., author of “Upon the Chisholm 
Prat larate 

Britton, Wiley, references, passim 

Bronson, Edgar S., publisher, 768 

Brown, Capt. Jacob, superintendent of Western Indian 
organization, 167 

Brown, Gov. John F., of Seminole Nation, 614; letters 
from, 793, 876 


Brown, John Henry—“Indian Wars and Pioneers of 
Texas, 70 

Browning, Rev. Wesley, educator among the Chickasaws, 
232 


Bryan, George S.—“Pioneers of the West,” 106 

Bryan, William J., visit of, 646 

Buckner, H. F., missionary to the Creeks, 213 

Buffalo; hunters, intrusion of, 438; extermination of the, 
491-96; bone gathering industry of, 493; great herds 
of, 494; domesticated, 495; wallow fight, 870; range 
news, 886 

Building and Loan Association, Indian Territory, 747 

Building stone, vast deposits of, 757 

Burk, J. J., editor, 763 

Burns, Rev. Willis, missionary to the Choctaws, 215 

Bushyhead, Rev. Jesse, Baptist minister, 210 

Business ; conditions after World War, 687; and politics, 
695; summary of a new town, 893 

Butler, Elizur, M. D., missionary, 194 

Butterfield Stage Line, 283 

Byington, Cyrus, missionary, 197 


Cabaniss, Thomas B., of Dawes Commission, 610 

Cabeza de Vaca’s journey, 29 

Cabin Creek fight, 363 

Caddoan Tribes, 22 

Caldwell meetings of Cherokee Strip cattlemen, 503 

California trails, 278 

Callahan, James Yancy, Congressman, 576 

Cameron, E. D., State Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, 644, 733 

Camp Canadian, its naming, 181 

Camp Medicine Bluff, 433 

Camp Napoleon Council, 849 

Camp Supply, arrival of Custer’s command at, 429 

Campaign, political, of 1896, 575 

Campbell, Walter S., writer, 772 

Campbell, William P., 922 

Canadian, attempted navigation of the, 42 

“Capital”; Oklahoma State, 762; South McAlester, 767 

Capital; location bill veto, 571; to Oklahoma City, bill 
for removing, 646; popular vote on, 647 


INDEX 


Capitol; selection of, 649; construction, 654, 659 

Carpenter, Col. C. C.,, leader of “rush” into Black Hills, 
511 

Cass, Secretary, reply of to Governor of Alabama, 795 

Cattle; stealing industry during Civil War, 357; bookers 
during Civil War, 372; ranges on unassigned lands, 
499; driving in Indian country, 846 

Cattlemen: and Congress leaders, 529; seek ranges in 
Greer County, 559 

Cave dwellers, 14 

Census of tribes who kept slaves, 297 

Cession of entire Seminole domain to the Government, 390 

Chaffee, Gen. Adnah R., 442 

Chahta Tamaha Council of June, 1865, 365 

Chapman, Rev. Epaphras, 189 

Chastain, Captain Ben, author of “The Story of the 36th,” 


679 

Checote, Samuel, Creek chief, 462, 876 

“Cherokee Advocate,” 765 

Cherokee: removal treaties, 141; Bible Society, 203; 
almanac, 203; conventions of 1839, 240; feud, 253-63; 
treaty of 1846, 258; scenes of violence in nation, 
1839-46, 260; slave owners, 208; commission of 1889, 
536; outlet, 556 

Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, 504; five-year 
lease, 539 

Cherokees; removal of, 172, 257; feud of the, 253-63; 
national organization of Eastern, 254; as slave 
owners, mixed-blood, 298; rival tribal governments 
among, 335; appeals of Creeks, Seminoles, Choc- 
taws, Chickasaws and, QII 

Cheyenne chiefs, arrest of the, 868 

Cheyenne consolidation, attempted, 404 

Cheyenne tribe, attempt to negotiate peace with, 403 

“Chickasaw Nation” government, 231 

Chickasaw: Treaty of 1834, 138; Manual Labor Acad- 
emy, 207; Treaty of 1852, 228; academy opened, 
232; objection to Atoka agreement, 613; emigrants 
1837, 794 

Chickasaws: population of nation, 171; removal of, 172; 
-appeal of Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Cherokees 
and, QII 

Chiefs and governors of the Five Civilized Tribes, 872 

Child, as a peacemaker, little, 860; a lost, 887 

Chisholm, Jesse, half-breed trader, 88, 861 

Chisholm Trail and the overland cattle trade, 409-12 

Chivington Massacre of 1864, 416 

Choctaw Academy, 208 

Choctaw and Chickasaw treaty with the Confederate 
States, 319 

Choctaw Coal and Railway Company, 485 

Choctaw Intelligencer, 250 

Choctaw Nation; first in liquor prohibitory measures, 225; 
first newspaper, 249; description of, in 1838, 806; 
commissions in the political campaigns for 1895 and 
1896, 908 

Choctaw’s pertinent query of the Hawes Commission, 907 

Choctaws; visit Washington, 115; removal of the 164, 
168; and Chickasaws, 219; district division of govern- 
ment, 222; in 1866 treaties, 319; farewell to, 793; 
appeal of Creeks, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Cherokees 
and, QII 

Chouteau, Col. Auguste P., 158 

Chouteau, Pierre L., Government agent for Osages, 127 

Chouteau’s trading post, 84, 87 


Ea 


INDEX 933 


“Chronicles of Oklahoma,” reference passim 

Chuala Female Seminary, 199 

Churches and schools, 467 

Churches in Oklahoma, 775 

Cimarron Territory and its political factions, 525 

Citations and bestowal of war decorations, more recent, 682 

Civil War: tribes’ conduct at outbreak of, 307; in Indian 
territory, 305-12; correspondence of Secessionists 
with Indians at opening of, 308; impoverishment con- 
ditions in territory during, 353; cattle stealing during, 
357; end of, 360; capitulation of Allied Nations at 
close of, 365; faction hatred at close of, 371; “cattle 
brokers” during, 372; changes in Indian Territory 
by, 373; plundering bands of negroes after, 375; 
Freedmen at end of, 850; Seminoles at end of, 854 

Claim Board, rules of the, 891 

“Claimants’ Board,” organization of for No-Man’s-Land, 
525 

Claims in the Territory, 906 

Claremore, first chief of the Osages, 192 

Clark, Capt. J. B., superintendent of Choctaw Removal, 
166 ; resignation of, 792 

Clarke, 'Sidney, his speech, 898 

Clarkson, Col. J. J., Confederate leader, 334 

Climate of the State, 7 

Coal mining, first, 469 

Coffee, General John, U. S. Commissioner, 138 

Coffin, William G., supt. for the Southern Superintend- 
ency, 316, 837 

Colbert Institute, 208 

Colbert, Levi, leading Chickasaw Nation man, 137 

Colbert, Winchester, Governor of the Chickasaw Nation, 
358 

Colgin, Mrs. Bessie, State Representative, 600 

Collins, Hubert E., author of “Warpath and Cattle Trail,” 
412 

Comanches at War in Texas, 60 

Commercial and financial, 743-47 

cc interests in Oklahoma, earliest American, 
77-09 

Commission meetings of Muskogee Nation, December 14, 
1896, OI1 

Commissioners, negotiations of, 153 

Compact: between Indian tribes, 817; at Camp Napoleon, 


49 
Confederate Government, Office of Indian Affairs in, 311 
Confederate military organization in territory, lack of 
harmony, 347 
Confederate: treaties with Indian tribes, 315-21; Indian 
Agency on the Washita, 341; camp troops Red River 
County, 353; Indian forces in Indian Territory, 838 
Congress granted right to erect a territorial government 
among the Seminoles, 391 


Congressional: enlargement of powers of Dawes Com- 
mission, 611; act for Cherokees allotment of lands, 
619 


Congressional Records, passim 

Constitution was at first regarded, how the, 636 

Constitutional conventions, 627-39 

Contractors in Civil War, dishonest, 356 

Controversy between the Creeks and Seminoles, 1854, 812 

Convention at New Hope Academy in 1864, 358 

Cook, Dr. Harold C., “New Trails of Ancient Man in 
America,” 13 

Cooley, Dennis N., Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 454 

Cooper, Gen. Douglas H., Confederate commander, 345 


“Corn Scandal” in the Choctaw Nation, 827 

Coronado’s expedition to Quivira, 30-33 

Cotton County set off and organized, 651 

Couch, William L., energetic “boomer,” 519 
Coues—Exploring Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery 


Pike, 42 
Council: at Franklin, 135; inter-tribal peace, 247; fires 
of Northwest Indian Confederacy, 271; territory 


tribes of July, 1861, 317; Confederacy tribes, 3573 
of peace at Fort Smith, 371-86; with Indians of the 
Plains, 384; inter- tribal peace at Okmulgee, 464; at 
Tahlequah, 815 

Counties, three new, 562 

County draft boards, 664 

County naming, at opening, 555 

Court: headquarters at Muskogee, 534; appointment of 
territory officials, 719; increase of districts in terri- 
tory, 723 

Court in Oklahoma, white man’s first, 720 

Crawford Seminary, 208; report of, by Samuel G. Pat- 
terson, 805 

Creation; of an Indian territory, 126; of new land dis- 
tricts, 562 

Creek: emigrate to the West, 123; and Seminole removal, 
175; and Seminoles, 234; Nation slave owners, 208; 
treaty, 1866, 392; Nation and Dawes Commission, 
614; protest to Secretary of War, 780 

Criminal Appeals, Court of, 724 

Crocker, Samuel, editor of “Oklahoma War Chief,” 521 

Crocker’s account of the Oklahoma delegation in Wash- 
ington, 891 

“Cross Timbers,’ what they were, 153 

Cross, William Macklin, Secretary of State, 584 

Cruce, Governor Lee, 648 

“Crutch-O” Ranch and brand, sor 

Cummins, Scott, poet of the short grass plains, 493, 772 

Currey, Benjamin F., superintendent of Cherokee re- 
moval, 174 

Curtis Bill of 1896, 611 

Curtis, Gen. Samuel R., U. S. A., Dept. of Missouri, 348 

Curtis, Representative Charles, of Kansas, 611 

Custer’s “My Life on the Plains,” extract from, 426 


“Daily Leader,” Guthrie, 763 

“Daily State Capital,” 763 

Dancing Rabbit Creek Revelry, 136 

Davis Fort, named for Jefferson Davis, 342 

Davis, Rev. John, full-blood Muscogee Baptist mission- 
ary, 200 

Dawes Commission, 607-24; Choctaw’s pertinent query 
of the, 907 

Dawes, Henry L., head of Dawes Commission, 607, 621 

Death of Satank, 862 

Debate on Oklahoma movement, 530 

Decision of the Choctaw Delegation, 810 

Decree of oblivion, 821 

Demagoguery in the opposition to the Union of the two 
States, 630 

“Democrat,” Tulsa, 768 

“Democrat,” Woodward, 764 

Democratic elections for Creek chiefs, first, 236 

Denison and Washita Valley Railroad Company, 483 

Denominational; missionary work, 196; colleges in the 
territory, 731 

Derwin, Henry E., newspaperman, 765 

DeShield’s “Cynthia Ann Parker,” 71 


934 


DeSoto Expedition, 33 


Development and resources, material, 751-58 


Division: district, of Choctaw Government, 222; of 
Choctaw and Chickasaw districts, 230; of the new 
State, 637 

Division in World War, first, 666 

Dixon “Billy,” 870 


Doak’s Stand Treaty, signing of, 125 

Doaksville, origin, 88 

“Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital,” 445 

Dodge, Col. Henry, territorial Governor of Wisconsin, 183 

Dodge, Col. Richard I., statement of, 884 

Dohausen, head chief of the Kiowas, 183 

Donelson, John, surveyor, 130 

Doniphan, Camp—military training headquarters, 664 

Doubleday, Col. Charles, 2d Ohio Cavalry, 334 

Douglas, Col. Clarence E., in spirited editorial on adop- 
tion of constitution, 638; editor and publisher, 766 

Downing, Rev. Lewis, 378, 459 

Doyle, Judge Thomas H., 653, 724 

Draft resistance, 664 

Dragoon Camp in 1834, Journal of—Sergeant Hugh 
Evans, 68 

“Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains,” 186, 706 

Drew, John, colonel of Cherokee Mounted Riflemen, 320 

Drouth: decade of, 660; cost of, 917 

Duncan, Rev. W. A., missionary, 207 

Du Tisne’s Expedition, 39 

Dwight Mission of 1822, 194; early description of, 798 

Dyer, Col. D. B., Cheyenne agent, 448 


Early: American commercial interests in Oklahoma, 
77-89; river navigation, 78; missions and mission- 
aries, 189-215; land available for white settlements, 
511; doctors of medicine, 709 

Earth house people, 16 

Eastern University Preparatory School at Claremore, 685 

Ecore de Fabre, 1831, Choctaw emigrants at, 794 

Editorial on condition of full-bloods, 907 

Educational: convention in Eastern Territory, first, 467; 
institutions, location and establishment of, 572; meet- 
ing at Edmond, 729; system, 729-30; survey, 734; 
associations, 736 

Election: United States Senators, 645; laws, 657; procla- 
mation, 914 

Elk Creek, battle of, 345 

Ellsworth, Henry L., land commissioner, 150 

Emigrant road to Texas, 277 

Emigration, tide of, after American Revolution, 109 

Emory, Col. Wm. H., U. S. Cavalry, 309 

“End of the Track,” 482 

Engagement at Locust Grove, 838 

Enmity between Indians and buffalo hunters, 867 

Enrollment of Indians and negroes by Dawes Commis- 
sion, 620 

Evans, Journal of Sergeant Hugh, 179 

Evans, Rev. A. Grant, designer of Sequoyah Seal, 639 

Events in the Indian Territory, 1865-90, 453-71 

Executive power of Indian chiefs, 458 

Exile of the Caddoes and other tribes from Texas, 287-93 

Expedition: military, 71; of Major Stephen H. Long, 93 
et seq; of the Red River, 96; of Captain Nathan 
Boone, 277; Custer, 427 

Experiences of the early “boomers,” 515 etc. 

Explorations, surveys and trails, 277-84 


INDEX 


Factional war in the Creek Nation, 461 

Fairfield and Dwight Missions in 1844, a visit to, 800 

Farmer-Labor Reconstruction League organized, 605 

Faucett, Dr. W. H., sank first oil well in Indian Terri- 
tory, 471 

Fauna of the State, 8 

Federal; invasion of the territory, first, 333-37; govern- 
ment treaty of 1866 with Choctaws and Chickasaws, 
301; court of the Indian Territory, 533; court at 
Fort Smith, 718 

Federal judges in the territory, salary of, 722 

Fencing of cattle ranges, 503 

Ferguson, Mrs. Thompson B., editor and publisher, 763 

Ferguson, Thompson B., appointment as Governor, 583 

Fields, John, agricultural leader, 653, 770 

Filibustering in the Lower Reserve, 289 

Finney, Rev. Alfred, missionary, 193 

First: inhabitants, 13; American explorations in Okla- 
homa, 49-58; military posts, 62-74; American trad- 
ing expeditions across Oklahoma, 101-106; land ses- 
sions made to other tribes, 114; Statehood bill, 580; 
combined vote of people of the territory, 629; Legis- 
lature of the State, 644 

Five Civilized Tribes: social and domestic conditions 
among, 241; previous to Civil War, 305; governments 
of the, 457; delegation to Washington in 1888-80, 
533; survey of lands of, 610 

Five Indian Governments, breaking up of, ba 

Five Tribes, removal treaties with, 134-45; removal to 
Indian Territory, 163-76 

Flynn, Dennis T., Congressman, 574 

Folsom, Hon. Peter, chief of Pushmataha District, 245 

Ford, Capt. John S., 71; expedition against the wild 
Comanches, 287 

Foreman, Grant, 64 

Foreman, Stephen, letter of, 803 

Fort Cobb, 69 

Fort Gibson and Fort Towson, founding of, 64-67 

Fort Sill Reservation, 806 

Fort Smith, 62 et seg.; peace council at, 377; Protocol 
852 

Fort Washita—by W. B. Morrison, 68 

Fort Wayne, 68 

“Forty Youth Fund” for Choctaw education, 224 

Fowler, Major Jacob, 103 

Frantz, Frank, youngest Governor of Oklahoma, 586 

Fraternal organizations, 778 

Fraudulent claimants to Indian property, 611 

Free Homes bill, 579 

“Free Lance,” Henryetta, 768 

Free negroes cause for apprehension before Civil War, 298 

“Free Press,” Kingfisher, 763 

“Free Press,” Osage City, 763 

Freedman, condition of at end of Civil War, 850; ques- 
tion among Choctaws and Chickasaws, 855 

Freight shipments, 482 

French explorations and trading operations, 37-45 

Friar Marcos de Niza’s expedition, 29 


Gadsden, James, American soldier and diplomat, 140 

Gaines, George Ss; superintendent of Choctaw removal, 166 

Garrisoned military posts in the Territory at outbreak of 
Civil War, 300 

Gaston, Brigadier- General James A., 679 

Gaylord, E. K., head of Oklahoma Publishing Co., 767 

“General Council of the Choctaw Nation,” 234 


INDEX 935 


Geography and natural features, 3-9 

Geology of the State, 4 

“Get-Up,” Guthrie, 762 

Gibson, George, 64 

Gill, Eugene, newspaperman, 765 

Gilstrap, Major Henry’s letter to Mrs. Willis L. Pearce, 
919 

Glenn and Fowler expedition, 103 

Glenn, Hugh, 86; trading house, 98 

Glisan, R.—Journal of Army Life, 68, 709 

Gold discovery in California, 279; in the Cherokee Na- 
tion, 789 

Golobie, John, printer, publisher, Senator, 765 

Goode, Rev. William H., missionary, 206 

Gore, Senator Thomas P., 645, 646 

Government official records, reference passim 

Governments of the Five Civilized Tribes, 457 

Governor Steele’s veto messages, 567, 571 

“Grandfather clause” of the State Constitution, 655 

Grayson, George Washington, 876 

“Great River Raft,” 81 

Great seal of Oklahoma, 639 

Greble, Major-General E. St. John, 675 

Greer County, 558; claim of the Choctaws, 855 

Greer, Frank H., newspaper publisher, 762, 770 

Gregg, Josiah—“Commerce of the Prairies,” 1o1 

Grierson, Gen. Benjamin H., 433 

Grinnell, George Bird—“The Fighting Cheyennes,” 444 

Gum, Engene P., secretary Oklahoma Bankers’ Associa- 
tion, 746 

Guthrie Building and Loan Association, 747 

Guthrie, “Get-up,” 


Halbert, H. S—‘Story of Treaty of Dancing Rabbit,” 136 

Hall, George Riley, editor, 768 

Hamilton, Capt. Louis McLane, 429 

Hamon, Jake L., Republican National Committeeman, 688 

Hanner, Captain Carter C., tribute to, 918 

Harjo, Oktahars, Creek chief, 461, 618 

Harlan, James, Secretary of the Interior, 389 

Harlow’s “Weekly,” 770 

Harmon County set off and organized, 646 

Harrell, John, missionary, 204; Representative, 687 

Harris, C. J., principal chief of Choctaws, 610 

Harrison, Hon. Luther H., editor, 767 

Harrison, Mrs. Jeanne B., daughter of Agent Leeper, 292 

Harrison, Walter M., managing editor, 768 

Harvey, David A., Congressman, 573 

Haskell, Charles N., first Governor of the new State, 
637, 643, 644 

Haworth, James M., agent of Kiowas and Comanches, 
422, 430 

Hazen, Gen. W. B., established Fort Sill agency, 456 

Heald, John Hobart, 71 

Hempstead—“History of Arkansas,” 79 

Herds, picturesque trail, 412 

Herrick, Representative Manuel, 688 

Herron, General, on official corruption, 844 

Hide hunters’ means and methods, 495 

Hoffman, Brigadier-General Roy, 665; editor and pub- 
lisher, 763, 917 

Hogue, Rev. R. J., missionary to the Choctaws, 215 

Holden, J. S., publisher, 766 

Holloway, Governor William Judson, 703 

Holmes, Theophilus H., Confederate general, 181 

Homestead privileges by lot, distribution of, 561 


Hood, Major Calvin H., cattle company president, 4409 

Hook, J. H., letters of, 163 

Hoover, Oklahoma’s electoral vote for, 702 

Hopefield, Osage settlement at, 191 

Hopkins, Zell, newspaperman, 765 

Hornaday, William T., author of “Extinction of the 
American Bison,” 491 

Hornbeck, Lewis N., publisher, 766 

Horse that won a claim and an election, 894; with a his- 
tory, 895; that deserved the best, 896 

Horse-racing circuit among the Indians, 246 

Hospitals in the State, 714 

Hotchkin, Rev. Ebenezer, missionary, 198 

Hough, Emerson, author of “North of ’36,” 412 

Houston, General Sam, 128 

Hubbard, Frank C., newspaperman, 766 

Hudson, Chief George, against Confederate alliance, 318 

Hulen, Brigadier-General John A., 674 

Huston, Gen. Felix, 70 

Hutchings, Brigadier-General Henry, 674 


Immigrants in some of the pioneer “rush” movements, 512 

Impeachment against State officials, 655, 690 

Inaugural address of Governor R. J. Walker, 852 

“Indian as slave-holder and secessionist,” 321 

“Indian Chieftain,” 765 

Indian Home Guards, first regiment of, 320, 838 

Indian: Indigenous tribes, 21-25; mission conference, 
207; list of preachers and missionaries, 215; affairs 
in Confederate Government, 311; trust fund in 1859, 
312; hesitancy in making common cause with the 
seceding States, 316; refugees, 328; expeditionary 
forces at Baxter Springs, 334; War of 1868, 425; 
territory, proposed constitution of, 465; International 
Fair, 460; land intrusion, 518; land cession and the 
opening proclamation, 534; additional land openings, 
555-62; Territorial Medical Society, 711; education, 
735; oratory at inter-tribal council, 816; expedition, 
840; delegations at Washington, 892 

“Tndian Journal,” 765 

Indian policy, faulty government, 853 

‘Indian Republican,” Tulsa, 768 

Indian Territory Building and Loan Association, 747 

Indian Territory; west of the Mississippi, beginning of 
an, 109-17; formation of, 121-30; last band of Semi- 
noles to, 176; proposals to organize, 267-73; Civil 
War in 305-12; cattle rustling in the, 845 

Indians; of the Plains, council with, 384; by Dawes 
Commission, enrollment of negroes and, 620; and 
buffalo hunters, enmity between, 867 

Inhabitants, the first, 13 

Inman, Major Henry, 435 

“International Council of Nations” of 1859, 306 

Inter-State Oklahoma Convention, 531 

Interviews between Dawes Commission and officials of 
the several nations, 610 

Ireland’s starving poor, Indians subscribe to, 249 

Irrigators, ancient, 16 

Irving, Washington—his tour, 150-53 

Island, Joseph, Choctaw preacher, 211 

Isparhechar, full-blood Muscogee Creek, 462 

Iyahnobi Female Seminary, 199 


Jacob, Richard T., military reminiscences of, 433 
Jacob’s Cavern, antiquity of deposits in, Dr. Vernon C. 
Allison, 14 


936 


James, Dr. Edwin, botanist and geologist, 94 

James Maria, the story of, 799 

James, Thomas, first expedition of, 101; second expedi- 
tion, 103 

Jenkins, William M., appointment as Governor, 581; re- 
moval of, 582 

Johnson, Col. Richard M., founder of Choctaw Academy, 
223 

Johnson, General Hugh S., 681; writer, 772, 920 

Johnson, Miss Edith C., special writer, 767 

Johnson, Senator Robert W., bill for creation of three 
territories, 272 

Johnston, Brigadier-General William H., 679 

Johnston, Senator Henry S., 644; Governor, 701 

Jones, Evan, Baptist missionary, 210 

Jones, Rev. John B., dominant spirit of Keetoowah Soci- 
ety, 301, 459 

“Journal,” Oklahoma City, 762 “ 

Journalism and literature, 761-72 

Journalistic demagoguery in “boomer” times, 517 

Jubilee singers, 826 

Judicial districting of the Territory, 717 

Justices of the Territorial Court, 721 


Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad, 485 

Kansas cattle rustlers, 843 

Kansas City Southern, 487 

Kansas-Nebraska Law, enactment of, 273 

Kappler’s laws and treaties; passim 

“Katy” across the Choctaw country, concerning con- 
struction of the (by Rev. J. S. Murrow), 88o. 

Kearney, Gen. Stephen Waits, U. S. A., 184 

Keel-boat, description, 78 

Keetoowah Secret Society, 301 

Keetoowahs protest, 616 

Kennedy, William—“Texas—Rise, Progress and Pros- 
pects of Republic of,” 81 

Keys, Earl, newspaperman, 765 

Kickapoo reservation, opening of, 558 s 

Kicking Bird, Kiowa chief, 440, 761 

Kidd, Meredith H., of Dawes Commission, 607 

Kimmel, Lieut. Manning M., 72 

Kingfisher Free Press, 763 

Kingsbury, Cyrus, missionary, 107 

Kiowa tribe, 24 

Knights of the Golden Circle, 302 

Ku Klux Klan, 693 

Kunsha Female Seminary, 199 


LaHarpe’s expedition, 37; voyages up the Arkansas, 39-41 

Lake Providence, in the swamp near, 793 

Land: first purchases in Oklahoma, 114; available for 
white settlement, 511 

“Land of the Fair God,” 761 

Lane, General James H., spectacular Civil War officer, 
33 

Larkin, Pierce, petroleum geologist, 756 

Last: band of Seminoles to Indian Territory, 176; gen- 
eral Indian war, 437; buffalo in Oklahoma County, 
494; obstacle to opening of unassigned lands, 535 
great land opening, 561 

Latrobe, Charles Joseph, 150 

Latta, Thomas A., editor, 769 

Law cases in territory, disposal of, 717 

Lawhead, Prof. J. H., territorial superintendent of public 
instruction, 720 


INDEX 


Laws of the Choctaw Nation, compiled by Joseph P. 
Folsom, 108 

Lawton, Lieut. Henry W., 4th Cavalry, 
mutiny, 860 

Lawyers, over supply of, in Territory, 723 

“Leased district” ceded to the Government by the Choc- 
taws and Chickasaws in 1866, 391 

Leasing of grazing privileges, 503 

Leavenworth, Col. Henry, organizer of expedition, 180 

Leavenworth-Dodge expedition, 157, 179-86 

Lee, Captain, brief sketch of his report, 872 

Lee, Maj.-Gen. Jesse M., 449 

Lee, S. Orlando, report of, 834 

Lee, surrender of, 364 

Leeper, Matthew, Federal and Confederate tribal agent, 
341 

Legislation for Greer County lands, 560 

Legislatures; first, 568; second, 646; extraordinary ses- 
sion of third, 649; fourth, 651; extraordinary session, 
656: sixth, (59; eighth, 689; eleventh, 700; twelfth, 
702 

Le Prestre, Sebastien, 62 

Letter; concerning erection of Chickasaw Academy, 803; 
of Tandy Walker, 835; to the President, 905. 

Letters with reference to wounds received (Ne-coming, a 
Delaware chief), 788 

Lewis, Anna, “Chronicles of Oklahoma,” 22, et seq. 

Liberation of women captives by Custer, 437 

“Life of Billy Dixon,” quotation from, 440 

Lilley, Rev. John, 201 

Liquor law, trouble with the Creeks in carrying out the, 
814 

“Little Prince,” Creek chief, 123 

Little Rock, seizure of Government Arsenal at, 309 

Little, William T., pioneer printer, 762, 922 

“Live Stock Inspector,” Woodward, 764 

Locust Grove, engagement at, 838 

Logan, Aunt Sallie, Creek Indian woman, 212 

Long, Major, expedition down the Canadian, 93 

Looney, Mrs. Lamar, State Senator, 690 

Lorton, Eugene, publisher, 760 

“Tost his claim but saved his honor,” 893 

Loughridge, Robert M., missionary, 200; regarding Tal- 
lahassee Mission, 802 

Louisiana, the price paid for, 50 

Love, Jack, 915 

Lovely, Major William, 111 

“Loyal” Choctaws and Chickasaws, 853 

Lumpkin, Governor Wilson, 163; concerning Cherokee 
leaders, 253; on Cherokee removal, 794 


446; quells 


“Magazine,” McMaster’s Oklahoma, 763 

Magee, Carl, newspaper writer, 769 

Mallet expedition, 41 

Manypenny, George W., commissioner to the Creeks, 239 

Marcy, Capt. Randolph B., 433 

Marcy expedition, 280 

Marshall, Brigadier-General Francis C., 679 

Le Sr Hon. David P., nestor of Woodward journalist, 
794 

Matthews, Lt.-Col. Asa C., 365 

Maxey, General, Confederate commander, 355 

Mayes, Joel B., Cherokee chief, 538 

McAlester, Colonel James J., concerning pioneering cecal 
mining industry in Oklahoma, 880 


INDEX 


elas convention of Five Tribes in November, 1896, 

12 

McCoy, Dr. Rice, 130 

McCoy, Isaac—‘‘History of Baptist Missions,” 125; sketch 
of his life, 129 

McCoy, Joseph G., founder of cattle-shipping center, 410 

McCullock, Brig.-Gen. in Confederate Army, 311 

McCullock, Fort, its story, 336 

McGlachlan, Brig.-Gen. Edward F., 679 

McGoodwin, Preston, editor, diplomat, 767 

ete James J., Republican National Committeeman, 


McGuire, Bird S., Congressman, 584 

McIntosh, Daniel N., Col., commanding Creek regiment in 

Civil War, 325 

McIntosh, James McQueen, Col. Confederate Army, 327 

McIntosh, William, chief of the Lower Creeks, 116 

McKay, Dr. Robert H., author of “Little Pills,” 711 

McKennon, Archibald S., of Dawes Commission, 607 

McKnight, John, merchant, 101 

McMaster, Frank, newspaper publisher, 762 

McNeal, Joseph W., 648 

McQuaid, George, newspaperman, 765 

Medical doctors in Oklahoma, early, 709 

Medical; education, 713; school of Epworth University, 
713; publications, 714 

Medicine and surgery in Oklahoma, 709-14 

Medicine Lodge peace council, 857 

Medill, W., report of, 267 

Meigs, Col. Return J., tribal agent, 110 

Memorial: Creek Indians to President Andrew Jackson, 
790; delegates of Cherokee, Creek and Choctaws, 
877; relinquishment, 8904; to War Department, 897. 

Methodist Church, 776 

Methodist Missions, work of the, 204 

Mexican captive, the story of, 823 

“Mid-Continent Field” oil deposits, 755 

Migration of Wichita Indians, 291 

Miles and Sheridan, Generals, their comments on the 

Indian Territory, 890 

Miles, Gen. Nelson A., 442 

Military : posts, 61-74; agents, 457 

Miller County, Arkansas, establishment of, 67 

Miller, Freeman E., Oklahoma poet, 772 

Miller, James, Governor of Arkansas, 112 

Mineral resources, 754 

Minority statement of Dr. E. N. Wright, 910 

“Minstrel,” Minco, 766 

Mission Press among the Choctaws, 211 

Mission; stations in old Indian nations, 195; schools for 
Five Civilized Tribes, 731 

Missionary cpposition to slavery, 300; leaders in harmony 
with slavery procedure, 301 

Missionary Society of M. E. Church, South, 374 

Missions, temporary and other Choctaw, 108 et seq 

Mississippi, beginning of an Indian Territory west of 
the, 109-17 

Missouri’s interest in organization of Indian Territory, 
269 

Montgomery, Alexander H., of Dawes Commission, 610 

Montgomery, William B., missionary, I91 

Mooney, James—‘“The Ghost Dance Religion,’ 21; 
“Myths of the Cherokees,” 110; “Calendar History 
of the Kiowa,” 179; “Cherokee Removal,” 795 

Moore, Col. Horace L., commander of 19th Kansas Cay- 

alry, 436 


937 


Moravian Missions, report of the, in Duval letter, 801 
Morgan, Representative Dick T., 688 

“Morning Times,’ Tulsa, 769 

Morrow, Joseph Samuel, missionary to the Creek Indians, 
213 

Mound builders, 15 

Mounted Rangers, 790 

Mow-Way’s story of his trip to Fort Leavenworth, 866 
Mudge, Rev. Enoch, writer of missionary history, 165 
Muldrow, ‘‘Messenger,” 766 

Municipal government by popular assemblage, 547 
Murray, William H., chairman of the constitutional con- 
vention, 633 

Murray’s letter to President Roosevelt, 914 

Murrow, Rev. J. S., 880 

Muskogee Baptist Association, organization of, 215 
Muskogee Natives, Commission meetings of, QI1 


Nagle, Patrick Sarsfield, 916 

National Defense Act, amendment of, 692 

National Guard: reorganization of, 601; officer disperses 
House of Representatives, 607 

National; organization of Eastern Cherokees, 254; elec- 

tion, 658 

Needles, Thomas B., of Dawes Commission, 621; U. S. 

marshal, 719 

Negotiations with Choctaws and Chickasaws, 133 

Negro slavery in the Indian Territory, 297-302 

Negroes, troubles with, 374; separate provision for, 645 

Neighbors, Robert S., biographical sketch of, 825 

Neihardt, John G., “The Splendid Wayfaring,” 179 

Neutral lands: patent issued for Cherokees, 261; and 

the Cherokee Strip, 856 

New Echota treaty, 145; denounced, 173 

“New Era,” Tulsa, 768 

“New Trails of Ancient Man in America,” by Dr. Harold 

C. Cook, 13 

“News,” Woodward, 764 

“News-Capital,” South McAlester consolidation, 767 

ewspapers in Indian Territory, 468 

iblack, Leslie G., editor and publisher, 764 

ineteenth Kansas Cavalry, 430 

inetieth Division in World War, 679 

o-Man’s-Land, 522, etc. 

ormal school at Edmond, 730 

orth Canadian flood of 1923, 608 

orthern Cherokees refuse tribal division, 395 

orthern Cheyenne outbreak, 445 

Jorthwestern State Normal School at Alva, 730 

unih Waya Academy, 205 

uttall, Thomas, travels in Arkansas Territory, 54-58, 77 


ZAZAAZAZAAZZAY™|NAZAZSY 


O’Briant, Rev. Duncan, missionary, 208 

Official records of Union and Confederate armies, passim 

“Oil and Gas Journal,” of Tulsa, 770 

Oil industry, first steps in, 470, 754-56 

Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, 754 

Oklahoma City bank’s run, 924 

Oklahoma: first missions in, 189; first newspaper, 249; 
naming of, 307; struggle for opening of, 509-26; 
question in Congress, 529-38; city convention, 600; 
Constitutional Convention, 630; under State Govern- 
ment, 643-60; in the World War, 663-82; regiment, 
consolidation of, 665; since World War, 685; in 
literature, 771-72; State flag, 921 

Oklahoma Historical Society, 737 


938 INDEX 


Oklahoma Military Academy, 685 

Oklahoma Publishing Company publications, 767 

Oklahoma State Medical Association, 713 

Oklahoma Teachers’ Association, 736 

Oklahoma Territorial Medical Society, 712 

Oklahoma Territorial Bankers’ Association formed, 747 

Oklahoma Territorial Board of Agriculture, 753 

Oklahoma-Texas consolidation, 918 

“Oklahoma War Chief,” pro-boomer publication, 516 

Okmulgee Constitution, 466 

Old settlers in Cherokee Convention, 256; explore 
Mexico, 822 

Old trails, recent revival of interest in, 411 

Olds, Harvey, newspaperman, 765 

Oliver, Jennie Harris, writer, 772 

Omnibus statehood bill, 595, 598 

Onate’s expedition, 34 

O’Neil, Brigadier-General J. P., 679 

Opening: day and days that followed, 543-51, 803; race 
in Oklahoma, 545; post office confusion at Territory, 
548; first Indian reservations, 555 

Opothleyahola, campaign against, 325-29; attitude toward 
the Confederate alliance, 834 

Organic act, 926 

Organization of the Choctaw emigrating parties, 1831, 792 

Osage Agency, 86 

Osage-Cherokee War, III 

Osage City Free Press, 763 

Osage hunting party, attacks on, 869 

Osage people, wealth of, 923 

Oskison, John M., story writer, 772 

Outbreak of 1885, threatened, 448 

Owen, Senator Robert L., 645 


Pacific Railroad survey, 281 

Palmer, Marcus, M. D., medical missionary, 195 

Park Hill Mission, 202; publishing house, 802 

Parker, Ely S., full-blood Seneca chief, 377 

Parker, Gabe E., designer of Seal, 639 

Parker, George B., editor, 760 

Parliamentary horse-play in Legislative sessions, 568-69 

Partisan alignments, new, among the Cherokees, 459 

Party politics over settlement of Cherokee affairs, 6190 

Paschal, Col. Geo. W., 71 

Passage and approval of Enabling Act, 602 

Patriotism, undemonstrative type of, 665 

Pawnee peace party, 402 

Pawnees, attack of on the Creeks, 815 

Payne, David L., colonizer, 513, 888 

Peace Commission, personnel of the, 852 

Peace Council at Fort Smith, 377 

Peak, Captain June, personal reminiscences of, 836 

Pennywit, Philip, 79 

“Perpetual peace” of October, 1865, 384-85 

Pershing, General, had service in Oklahoma, 665 

Phillips, Gen. William Addison, U. S. A., 366 

“Phoenix,” Muskogee, 766 

Pike, Albert, special commissioner for the Confederate 
States, 315 

Pike, General, in the Civil War, 841 

Pine, Senator William B., 699 

Pioneer railway construction, 475-88 

Pioneering and coal mining industry in Oklahoma (by 
Col. James J. McAlester), 879 

Pioneers of 1880, 551 

Pirogue, description of, 78 


Pitchlynn, Peter P., 847 

Plains Apache tribe, 25 

Plains Indians on new reservations, 415-22 

Plains, survey across the, 881 

Plantation owners in Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, 242 

Platt, Senator, his remarks on statehood, 900 

Poison Spring, battle of, in 1864, 350 

Political affairs in Oklahoma Territory, 565-86 

Politics and politicians in the Indian service, 453 

Pope, Gen. John, department commander at Fort Leaven- 
worth, 448; his report on Southern Cheyennes at 
Darlington, 871; on Payne, 889 

Portales, Count Albert de, 150 

Porter, Pleasant, distinguished Creek leader, 628 

Posey, Alexander, Creek poet, 618, 628; editor, 768 

“Post,” Fort Gibson, 766 

Pottawatomie and Absentee Shawnees granted a reserva- 
tion in 1867, 401 

Potts, Ramsay D., Baptist layman, 210 

Prehistoric life within the State, 13-17 

Presbyterian Church, 775 

Presidential proclamation against Territory invasionists, 


514 

“Press-Gazette,” and “Oklahoman” consolidation, 764 

Press: the, 468; nucleus of the Territory, 551 

Price, Commissioner, his report on Payne, 889 

Proclamation of election by Governor Frantz, 636 

Progress of the Custer expedition, 427 

Prohibition enforcement, 645 

Proposed: territorial organization, 463; railway lines, 
477; syndicate purchase of Cherokee Outlet, 537 

Propositions submitted by the Chickasaws, 800 

Protests: of tribes to commissioners’ proposals in 1865, 
380; to the Cherokee agreement, 912 

Protocol, signing of, at Fort Smith, 383 

Prouty, Frank, newspaperman, 765 

Pryor, Nathaniel, 85 

Public; building bill, 580; land commission, 6455 school 
system, organization of, 729; school report in Chero- 
kee Nation for 1850, 813 

Purchase of Cherokee Outlet, proposed, 892 

Pushmataha’s diplomacy, 115 


Quahada women and children released at Fort Sill, 420 
Quaker agents, 456 

“Quaker” Indian policy, 455 

Qualification of male electors, 656 

Quanah, 869 

Quantrill, William C., Guerilla leader, 349 

Quapaw emigration, I 57: tribe, treaty of 1867, 4o1 


Racing to the claims, 557 

Railroads, Arguments for developments of, 478 

Railroads, changes due to, 481 

Railroads, unneighborly, 881 

“Railway Age,” 484 

Railway; building, 475, 880; reminiscences, 480; subse- 
quent developments, 487; first in Oklahoma, 880 

“Railway Gazette,” 483, et seq. 

“Railway Review,” 483, et seq. 

“Railway World,” 485, et seq. 

Ramsey, Rev. James Ross, missionary, 202 

Ranch buildings on Cherokee Strip, 505 

Range cattle industry, 499-506 

Rangers, who were they, 152; mounted, 790 

Ratification of Atoka agreement, 613 


INDEX 


Ray, Grace E., author of historical sketch of Indian Ter- 
ritory newspapers, 469 

Recording districts in the Territory, 723 

Rector, Elias, letters of, to Indian Affairs Commissioner, 
291; exploration of superintendent, 824 

Red River, exploring expedition of, 96, 280; dispute, 694 

Refugees, return of the, 841 

“Register,” Purcell, 767 

Registration at booths, at opening, 556 

Religious, social and fraternal, 775-70 

Removal: policy of, 121; treaties with Creeks and Semi- 
noles, 139; of Five Tribes to the Indian Territory, 
163-76; and settlement of additional tribes, 401-06 

Rendelbrock, Capt. Joseph, 4th Cavalry, 447 

Renfrow, William Cary, appointed Governor, 574 

Reorganization; of National Guard, 691; U. S. Court of 
Indian Territory, 721 

Report; of S. Orlando Lee, 834; of Superintendent 
Coffin, 837; of Commissioner of Land Affairs for 
1864, 361 and passim; of Commission to Five Civil- 
ized Tribes, passim 

“Republican,” Watonga, 763 

Requa, William C., missionary, 191 

Rescue of the captives, 867 

Reservation grants in Indian Territory between 1820 and 
1885, 405 

Resolutions; of mass meeting in Parker County, 824; 
adopted by the Five Civilized Tribes in convention 
in South McAlester, November 12, 1896, 612; of 
General Council, 828; of Chickasaw Legislature, 831; 
for proposed territorial organization, extract from, 
801; of Oklahoma City Convention, 903 

Resources and development, material, 751-58 

Retail business in early towns, 744 

“Review,” Tulsa, 768 

Reynolds, Milton W., concerning Fort Smith Council, 
378; dean of special correspondents, 761 

Ridge, John, letter of, 818 

Ridges and Boudinot, biographies, sketches of, 819 

Ridges in 1839, assassination of Boudinot and the, 253 

Riflemen, regiment Cherokee mounted, 320 

River navigation, early, 78 

ip hee W., concerning the first railway in Oklahoma, 

fe) 

Robbins, Henry P., editor, 767 

Robertson, Alice, member of Congress, 689 

Robertson, Governor James B. A., 660, 685 

Robertson, Mrs. A. E. W., 201 

Robertson, Rev. William S., missionary, 201 

Rock Island Line across Oklahoma, 486 

Rock, Marion Tuttle, in “History of Oklahoma,” 378 

Roe, Vingie E., author, 772 

Rogers, John, Western Cherokee chief, 259 

Rolls of Creek Nation, difficulties encountered in com- 
pleting, 913 

Roly McIntosh gives good reasons, 899 

Roman Catholic Church, 776 

Roosevelt’s Proclamation, 915 

Ross, Capt. Charley P., 71 

Ross, John, Cherokee chief, 142-43; his reply to the Con- 
federate commissioner, 830; address of, 836 

Ross, Lawrence Sullivan, 72 

Ross, William Potter, 465 

“Roundups” on the cattle ranches, 505 

Ruble, letters of Presiding Elder T. B., 804 

Runaway slave in the Cherokee Nation, 826 


939 


Rural school districts, consolidation of 732 
Rutherford, Samuel Morton, 86; Indian agent, 225 


Saline springs, 758 

Salomon, Col. Frederick, 9th Wisconsin Volunteers, 335; 
address, 839 

Saloons close their doors at inauguration of State Gov- 
ernment, 643 

Salt Plains, expedition of the, George C. Sibley’s, 52 

Santa Fe Lines in Indian Territory, first, 484 

Santa Fe Trail, 105 

Santanta and Big Tree at Fort Sill, 421 

Sarchet, “Corb,” publicity director, 765 

Satank, death of, 862 

“Saturday and Sabbath” schools among Choctaws, 225 

Sawyer, Hamline W., editor and publisher, 762 

Say, Thomas, naturalist, 97 

Schermerhorn, Rev. J. F., commissioner, 150 

Schofield, Gen. John M., of “Army of Frontier,’ 343 

School fund, appropriation for permanent, 732 

School of Medicine of the University of Oklahoma, 713 

Scott, Angelo C., chairman of territorial assemblage 
gathering, 547 

Scott, A. C., and W. W., newspaper publishers, 762 

Scouting of Confederates in 1864, 359 

Scripps-McRae newspaper syndicate, 769 

Seal of Oklahoma, 639 

Seat of Government in the Territory, act to locate, 565 

Seay, Governor A. J., appointed to office, 572 

Secessionists correspondence with Indians at opening of 
Civil War, 308 

Second Federal invasion of the Territory, 341-49 

Secret society among the Cherokees, 302 

Secretary of the Interior, recommendations of, 861 

Seger, John H., 872 

Sells, Elijah, Supt. of Indian Affairs, 454 

Seminaries among the Cherokees, male and female, 
241, 467 

Seminole Nation, average allotment in, 621 

Seminole: removals, 175; treaties in 1866, 390; govern- 
ment of Nation, 458; commissioners to the Dawes 
Commission, 614; Damon and Pythias, 795 

Senate Committee on Territories, visit of, 596 

Senate executive documents, passim 

Senecas of Sandusky, 154 

Sequoyah Constitution, formal publishment of the, 629 

Sequoyah, or George Guess, inventor of the Cherokee 
alphabet, 124 

Sequoyah Statehood movement, 627, 630 

Settlement: beginning of Eastern Indians, 122; of Five 
Civilized Tribes, 219-50; of affairs in Indian Ter- 
ritory, 624 

Settlers swarm to No-Man’s-Land, 523 

Shackelford, Judge James M., 719 

Shanahan’s War, Pat, 884 

Sheridan, Philip H., “Personal Memoirs” of, 428, 871 

Shipping markets for cattle, 502 

Shoshonean tribes, 23 

Shreve, Capt. Henry M., 81 ; ' 

Shreveport to Pine Bluffs on Upper Red River—distances, 
83 

Sibley, George C., expedition of the Salt Plains, 52 

Signers of the Atoka Agreement, 613 é; 

“Single Statehood Resolutions of the Oklahoma City 
Commercial Club,” gor 

Siouan tribes, 24 


940 


Skullyville; Choctaw village, its derivation, 166; dele- 
gates to convention, 233 

Slave Owners in Choctaw country, 207 

Slavery, a missionary’s attitude toward, 827 

Slavery, negro, in Indian Territory, 297-302 

Slaves to read, write or sing, Act prohibiting, 300 

Smedley, Rev. Joseph, missionary, 210 

Smith, Major-General William R., 676 

Smith, Thomas A., 61 

Smoke signal, General Custer’s description of, 866 

Social institutions, 776-78 

Soils within the State, 7 

Soldiers’ Relief Commission created, 691 

“Sooners” at the opening, 549; dispossessed, 894 

Southern Cherokees accepted Civil War issues in good 
faith, 395 

Southern Cheyennes at Darlington, General Pope’s Re- 
port on, 871 

“Southern herds” of buffalo, 492 

Southern overland mail line, 284 

Spanish explorations, 29-34 

Speech of William Penn Adair, extract from, 878 

Special Legislative session of February, 1920, 688 

Special session of January, 1910, 647 

Spencer Academy, 199, 224 

Sports among the Indians, 246 

Springer bill passed, 532 

St. Louis and San Francisco R. R. builds across Choctaw 
Nation, 483 

Staked claims in middle of street, 548 

Stanley, John M., painter of Indian portraits, 247 

Stanley, William E., of Dawes Commission, 621 

Starr, Dr. Emmet, author of “History of the Cherokee 
Indians,” 263 

State Board of Education, work of, 652 

State Board of Health, 714 

State, extent of the, 3 

State Forest Commission created, 700 

State Highway Department, 699 

State Library Association created, 685 

State: location, 3; institutions, proposed location of, 
579; political campaign of 1914, 654; issues com- 
mission provided for, 686; institutions of learning, 


731 

State School of Mines at Wilburton, 685 

Statehood ; increasing interest in, 590; agitation, 589-603; 
legislation in the Fifty-eighth Congress, 601; ben- 
eficent purpose movement of Sequoyah, 630; attack- 
ing double line at home, 904 

Statutes at large, United States, passim 

Steamboats, early, 79, 783 

Steele, Gen. William, Confederate commander, 343 

Steele, Governor, message of Oct. 13, 1890, 566-67 

Stokes, Montfort, Governor of North Carolina, 149 

Share William D., writer of buffalo reminiscences, 491, 

5 

Struggle for the opening of Oklahoma, 509-26 

Stryker, William, editor, 768 

Sturm’s Oklahoma “Magazine,” 770 

Submarine attack, 919 

Sully, General, expedition to the North Canadian, 863 

Sumner, Major-General Samuel S., 665 

Survey: of town sites in new, opened territory, 548; of 
ee of Five Civilized Tribes, 610; across the plains, 

I 


INDEX 


Tabananika, Comanche chief, 418 

Tahchee, Cherokee leader, 262 

Tahlequah National Cherokee Convention of 1839, 257 

Tahlonteeskee, chief of the Western Cherokees, 193 

Tallahassee and Asbury manual labor schools, 237 

Talley, Rev. Alexander, missionary to Choctaws, 164; 
letter of, 791 

Tatum, Lawrie, in “Our Red Brothers,” 433 

Taylor, Gen. Zachary, 63 

Taylor, Miss Lucy H., educator among the Choctaws, 210 

Telegraph lines, first in Indian Territory, 488 

Territorial conventions of 1898, 578 

Territorial courts of the four districts, seats of the, 723 

Territorial Medical Society, Indian, 711 

Territorial Supreme Court, increase of, 721 

Territorial Teachers’ Association, 736 

Territory, Opening day of, 546 

Texas Cherokees, 262 

Texas Commissioners, 1861; report of the, 828 

Thomas, Senator Elmer, 7o1 

Thirty-sixth Division in World War, 673 

Three Forks, affairs in the region of the, 127 

“Times,” Oklahoma City, 762 

“Times-Democrat,”’ Muskogee consolidation, 766 

“Times-Journal,” newspaper consolidation, 763 

Tishomingo Council of March, 1864, 358 

Titles, extinguishing land, 121 

Titles of Indian chiefs, 458 

Tonkawas, attempt to exterminate, 342 

Topography of the State, 5 

Torrey, Charles Cutler, missionary, 202 

Towns in the Creek Nation West in 1833, 235 

Towson, Nathan, 65 

Toyash, why so named, 182 

Trader and the renegade, 787 

Traders; and Trappers on the Arkansas, 42-45; later 
American, 88 

Trading posts, first American, 84, 743 

“Trail of Tears” during Choctaw removal to West, 170 

Training camps for Oklahoma men, 665 

Trapp, Governor Martin Edward, 608 

Travels in Arkansas Territory, Thomas Nuttall’s, 54-58 

Treaties of the ’thirties, 155; of 1866, 389-08 

Treatment of slaves in Indian Territory, 299 

Treaty Council of 1846 of Cherokees, 261 

Treaty with the Seminoles completed by Capt. Pike, 319 

Tribal: school system of the Creeks, 239; list of enroll- 
ment in 1907, 622; educational system, 730; schools 
still operated, 735 

Tribes at outbreak of Civil War, conduct of various, 307 

Tribes of the Plains treaty, 159 

Trbies’ policy of agreement with Dawes Commission, 612 

“Tribune,” Thomas, 768 

“Tribune,” Tulsa, 760 

Trouble: of Indians on Lower Reserve of Brazos Valley, 
200; with negroes, 374; among the Creeks, 460 

Tucker, Rev. Eben, missionary, 210, 212 

Tukattokah convention of Cherokees in 1830, 254 

Tulsa newspapers, 768-69 

Tulsa race riot, 694, 921 

Twitchell, Ralph E., “Leading Facts of New Mexico 
History,” 33 


Union Cherokee Council at Cowskin Prairie, 343 
Union Mission family of 1820, 190 


INDEX 


Union Pacific Railway Co., Southern Branch, incorpo- 
rated, 475 

United States; roads in Arkansas, 66; commission to the 
Indian Territory, 149-50; Senators, election of, 645; 
Court of Indian Territory, 721; statutes at large, 
passim 

University of Oklahoma, reorganization of, 731 

University of Tulsa, 736 

“University preparatory school,” 
at Tonkawa, 685 

Upper and Lower Creeks in 1845, a description of, 810 

Upper Red River County, 784 

Upshaw, agent, report of, 807 


establishment of, 580; 


Vaill, William F., missionary, 191 

Van Camp, Lieut. Cornelius, 72 

Van Dorn, Major, 72 

Vegetation within the State, 7 

Vigilance Committee, alertness of, 376; activities of, 
832 


Walker, Governor R. J., inaugural address, 852 

Walker, Tandy, 835, 848 

Walker, William H., editor, 767 

Walrond, U. S. Attorney Zachary T., 719 

Walters, town of, the county seat, 651 

Walton, drastic action of Governor, 697 

Walton, John Calloway, administration, 696 

Wane of the Civil War in Indian Territory, 353-67 

Wapanucka Female Institute, 199 

War chiet’s charges, 890 

“War Chief,” Oklahoma, 762 

Ward, William, U. S. Indian agent, 134 

Warren, Abel, 89; visit to his trading post on Red River, 
787 

Wars with the tribes on the Plains, 425-50 

Washburn, Rev. Cephas, 193 

Washita Campaign of 1868, 426 

Watie, Gen. Stand, most effective scouting commander in 
Confederate Indian service, 360, 848 


941 


Weaver, William J., historical sketches, 78 

Webber, Walter, chief of Western Cherokees, 113 

Webber’s Falls, 88 

Weed, Dr. George S., medical missionary, 200 

Wenner, Fred L., secretary to three Governors, 765 

Western Cherokees, 110 

Western territorial line of Arkansas, 156 

Westward journey of the Cherokees, 795 

Wheelock Female Seminary, 199 

White adopted citizens’ association, 608 

White horse thieves, 441 

Whitney, Asa, proposal of early railway line, 279 

Wichita Indians, migration of, 291 

Wichita Mountain Forest and Game Preserve, 806 

Wichitas, an agricultural people, 182 

Wild tribes, treaties with, in 1865, 384 

Wilderness, taming of, 546 

Wilkinson, Lieut. James B., voyage down the Arkansas, 
50-51 

Williams, Carl, agricultural writer, 767 

Williams, J. Roy, journalist, 767 


* Williams, Loring S., missionary, 197 


Williams, Robert L., first chief justice of the State, 643: 
Governor, 655 

Wilson, Rev. Charles E., first Baptist missionary among 
Choctaws, 210 

Women in Eighth Legislature, 690 

Worcester, Samuel A., missionary, 202 

World War, Oklahoma in the, 663-82; since, 685, etc. 

Wrangle of Board of Agriculture, 653 

Wright, Alfred, missionary, 197 

Wright, Allen, 857 

Wright, Dr. E. N., minority statement of, 910 

Wright, Robert M., concerning buffalo herds, 491 

Wright’s estimate, 885 

Wyandotte Territorial Convention, 271 

Wythe, Major George, author of “A History of the goth 
Division,” 681 


Yoakum, H., author of a “History of Texas,” 263 
Young lawyer as successful lobbyist, 921 


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